Madeleine Stone and Dog on the Tucker Box
30 May 2021
Madeleine Stone photographed with the famous Dog on the Tuckerbox at Gundagai New South Wales. The Dog on the Tuckerbox is an Australian historical monument, located at Snake Gully, five miles (8 km) from Gundagai. The dog section of the monument was cast in bronze by 'Oliver's Foundry' Sydney and its base sculpted by Gundagai stonemason Frank Rusconi and was unveiled by the then Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons on 28 November 1932 as a tribute to pioneers. The statue was inspired by a bullock drover's poem, Bullocky Bill, which celebrates the life of a mythical driver's dog that loyally guarded the man's tuckerbox (Australian English for lunch box) until death. A dog monument had been first erected at a site nine miles from Gundagai in 1926. The Back to Gundagai Committee chose the Five Mile camping site rather than the Nine Mile Peg as a location for the monument on the basis that it was more convenient to the Hume Highway. A nationwide competition was held to obtain the most suitable inscription for the monument. Written by Brian Fitzpatrick of Sydney. The inscription says: "Earth's self upholds this monument To conquerors who won her, When wooing was dangerous And now are gathered unto her again." An annual Dog on the Tuckerbox festival has been held each year since 1992, the 60th anniversary of the monument.
- Document type: Photo
- Family group: STONE (John & Harriett)
- People: Joe LYONS, Frank RUSCONI, Madeleine Antonia STONE
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