The Dog on the Tuckerbox is an Australian historical monument and tourist attraction, located at Snake Gully, approximately five miles (eight kilometres) from Gundagai, New South Wales as described in the song of the same name. Cultural origin The inspiration for the statue has been traced to a doggerel poem, "Bullocky Bill", published anonymously by "Bowyang Yorke" in 1857. Other references state that the poem was published in 1880, in the Gundagai Times, but confirmation of either date is hard to find. The poem humorously describes a series of misfortunes faced by a bullock driver, culminating in his dog either sitting on or spoiling the food in his tucker-box - an Australian colloquialism for a box that holds food, similar to a lunchbox, but larger. BILL THE BULLOCKY (By "Bowyang York"). As I was coming down Conroy's Gap I heard a maiden cry: "There goes Bill the Bullocky, He's bound for Gundagai. A better poor old ——— Never cracked an honest crust; A tougher poor old ——— Never drug a whip through dust. "His team got bogged at the five mile creek, Bill lashed and swore and cried, 'If Nobby don't get me out of this I'll tattoo his ——— hide.' But Nobby strained and broke his yoke, And poked out the leader's eye; And the dog sat in the tucker box Five miles from Gundagai." That poem was generally considered rude and vulgar. A less offensive and more accomplished poem by Jack Moses, published in the 1920s, made reference to the Bowyang Yorke poem although, for an unknown reason, he titled it "Nine Miles from Gundagai". Moses' poem has the dog guarding the tuckerbox by sitting on it. The poem was very popular and was the inspiration for the statue. Jack O'Hagan's song, "Where the Dog Sits on the Tuckerbox (5 miles from Gundagai)", was published in 1937, and Moses' poem was included in his collection, Nine Miles from Gundagai, published in 1938. The monument A dog monument was first erected at a site nine miles from Gundagai in 1926. Gundagai stonemason Frank Rusconi suggested a memorial using the legend of the Dog on the Tuckerbox in 1928; and in 1932 the proposal was taken up by the community. The Gundagai Independent of 11 August 1932 wrote: The Back to Gundagai Committee chose the Five Mile camping site rather than the Nine Mile Peg as a location for the