Dog On The Tuckerbox

So much of Australias early folklore were tales based a hardship that was endured.  Dog on the Tuckerbox was one of these with it's exact date and time a mystery.  But what is certain is that it's base is firmly with the Australian bush and the early pioneers who had pushed west and south from the colonial hub of Sydney.  Some had went searching for the base of the Murrumbigee River others took holdings in the Gundagai area around 1830 to 1850.

There were hard times on makeshift roads so the supplies and essentials were taken by bullock teams.  To pass the time when the river had fallen low and the teams were stuck in the mud the ' bullockies' would recite doggerel and rhymes picked up along the way.  On this type of occasion the dog would sit on the tuckerbox and guard his Masters supplies and possessions while he was away seeking help.

So the legend was born and whoever Bowyang Yorke was sometime later had his verse changed a bit by Jack Moses.  It's became very popular throughout Australia in the bush as well the colony.  It was later immortalized by Jack O'Hagan in 1937 in his popular song that put Gundagai on the world map.  Here are both versions of the Dog on the Tucker Box.

Dog on the Tuckerbox Poem
by Bowyang Yorke

As I was a coming down Conroy's Gap,
I heard a maiden cry;
'There goes Bill the Bullocky,
He's bound for Gundagai.

A better poor old beggar
Never drug a whip through dust.'
His team got bogged at the nine mile creek,
Bill lashed and swore and cried;
'If nobby don't get me out of this,
I'll tattoo his bloody hide.'

But Nobby strained and broke the yoke,
And poked out the leaders eye;
Then the dog sat on the Tucker Box
Nine miles from Gundagai.

Nine Miles Fom Gundagai
by Jack Moses

I've done my share of shearing sheep,
Of droving and all that;
And bogged a bullock team as well,
On a Murrumbidgee flat.
I've seen the bullock stretch and strain
And blink his bleary eye,
And the dog sit on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.

I've been jilted, jarred and crossed in love,
And sand-bagged in the dark,
Till if a mountain fell on me,
I'd treat it as a lark.
It's when you've got your bullocks bogged,
That's the time you flog and cry,
And the dog sits on the tucker box
Nine miles from Gundagai.