It was originally written by someone under the pen name 'Bowyang Yorke', Amos. It was a poem about the early pioneers of Australia, who went west and south from Sydney, looking for the source of the Murrumbidgee River. Many went to the area around Gundagai district in the period 1830-50.

They were tough times with supplies being transported along bush tracks by bullock teams. To pass the time while often being bogged, or for the river level to fall at crossings such as Muttama Creek near Gundagai, 'bullockies' would recite doggerel and rhymes picked up on their travels - and, sometimes, even write a few lines. Often on such occasions the bullocky's dog would sit guarding its master's tuckerbox and possessions while he was away seeking help.

The poem of 'The Dog on the Tuckerbox' was written some time in the 1850s. The original author used the pen name 'Bowyang Yorke', then the verse was amended some time later and promoted as a poem by Jack Moses. Jack O'Hagan put it to music in 1937. There is now a statue of the dog on the tuckerbox outside Gundagai !

(hope you enjoyed that Phot!)