Where the Dog ‘sat’ on the Tuckerbox

Five miles north of Gundaghi is a famous monument of a bullocky’s dog, sitting on a tucker box.

It has a complicated history. In the 1850’s wagons pulled by teams of bullocks were widely used for hauling cargo in Australia.

In the original poem, Bullocky Bill gets his wagon bogged in a creek. A long struggle ensues with multiple failed attempts to get the wagon free. Finally the wooden bullock yolk breaks and he gives up. Walking disconsolately back to where he left his dog and tucker box (lunch box) the last straw occurs when he finds the dog has ‘shat’ on his tucker box..

The original poem, (published in a pub newsletter or matchbox?) needed a bit of refinement to be printed in a newspaper of the era, so the ending was reworked to tell how the dog has loyally ‘sat’ on the tucker box guarding his masters lunch.

The poem became a song and ultimately a part of Australian folk lore.