Friday, November 28, 2008

The Dog On The Tuckerbox

76 years ago today (28th November, 1932) The Dog On The Tuckerbox Monument was unveiled by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons. Located at Snake Gully 5 miles (8.5kms) north of Gundagai NSW along the Hume Hwy. The monument is a tribute to our pioneers. The legend of the Dog On The Tuckerbox was inspired by two early Australian poems and the popular 1937 song by Jack O'Hagan.View Larger Map

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A lot posted about the Dog on the Tuckerbox on the Internet is nonsense. The monument is really about a massacre of Indigenous people that happened nearby, which was hidden, and black dog (the DonT Monument) guards the site of the ashes of those massacred people. This is supported by the archaeology of the area but was also reported to the archaeologist on the Coolac Bypass Arch Survey several years ago by a very long time Coolac resident with no connection at all to me. The massacre is well known of at Gundagai and Coolac. Gundagai likes to hide the story, carrying on with very silly puppy dog stuff when the real story is heaps more interesting which reflects the mental processes of some.

Where 'dog' is referred to in the poems indicates an Indigenous totemic Being similar to how we locals call the Gundagai Tigers (football team) the tigers - and individuals of that team, a tiger.

I am sorry Australia but the rest of you have been fooled by the cover up of the massacre at the near to Gundagai location in the 1830s that had the obnoxious DonT monument (similar naming theme as the Convincing Ground massacre) built to it in the 1930s to rake in more tourism dollars off gullible passing tourists - plus for some locals to have a good laugh at a few expenses, at the same time.

There is an early version of the DonT Monument on wikipedia. This crude dog on a stick from many years previous the built monument, was at the Nine Mile which is closer to where the massacre happened, but the remains were hidden at the Five Mile which is what that Five Mile/Nine Mile disaprity is about. Larry Foster, a previous Coolac resident, has noted on the ABC Canberra Local Radio guestbook site online as remembering where this crude dog image was near the Nine Mile.

There is a very large and highly highly significant Indigenous ceremonial ground at Gundagai (part of which is now listed on the DECC AIHMS Register so under the care of the NSW Minister of the Environment on behalf of the NSW Government at the request of Indigenous people - it had to go on the Register as Gundagai Shire Council had plans to curb and gutter that area that would have wrecked an amazing Indigenous ceremonial area), which is one reason why it was important for colonials to make sure all the original custodians were removed from this location, because by them remaining, culture (significant core culture, not just a random camp at any old bend in any old river) would remain. Its how my lot went on then and sometimes still do.

Come on Gundagai Shire Council. get over some of the rubbish you claim on the silly library blub and put some truth up for once that doesnt read as so utterly childish - and stop trying to deceive the rest of the nation about the amazing heritage in this local area.

My immediate family have been at Gundagai since 1848 and one G.G.G. uncle here from the 1820s so what the DonT Monument is about is well known plus we also had what that monument is copied from, on our soft drink bottles, the template of which was then used for the High School blazer pockets etc. My Mum (Alice Jones) who was responsible for that bottle decoration, did not ask permission of local Indigenous people to use that image as that was not done in the early 1960s. Alice was also on the new High School uniform committee which is how the bottle design templates got used for the blazer pocket designs.

What about the Gundagai Ghost as is recorded in the old newspapers online? It seems the hill Gundagai is built on has phosphorus in it that sometimes emits out and takes on a ghostlike appearance. Little wonder the hill got called Parnassus. I would not build a home up there and no wonder no one built up there in earlier times. I told the Shire GM this Parnassus ghost stuff two weeks ago and requested he pass the info on to the Shire Engineer who is also SES boss here, but the GM neglected to do that. It was important that engineer and SES boss know that information for public safety reasons just in case it becomes relevant at any time here at North Gundagai/Mt Parnassus, and the Engineer wa svery interested to receive it from me direct, two days ago. So many secrets around this area covered up with wagging puppy dog stories.

JJones
Gundagai
(from the now extinct McCabes Cordials if anyone would like the check an old bottle at the museum)