The Dog on the Tucker Box [“Bill the Bullocky” poem, 16 May 1935]

[Editor: This item is an extract from the “Out among the People” section, published in The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), 16 May 1935. It features a poem, “Bill the Bullocky”, which mentions the dog on the tucker box (of Gundagai fame).]

The Dog on the Tucker Box

Mr. Frank Donaghy thoughtfully sent me a picture postcard of the dog on the tucker box — the pioneers’ monument at Gundagai, recently referred to in this column. This card bears a 2d. royalty to the Gundagai District Hospital, as also does a celluloid matchbox cover on which is printed the famous verses, “Bill the Bullocky,” written on June 20, 1859. Here they are:—

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 the yoke,
And poked out the leader’s eye,
Then the dog sat on the tucker box,
Five miles from Gundagai.

Source:
The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), 16 May 1935, p. 11

Editor’s notes:
—— = two em dashes (or a variant number of em dashes) can be used to indicate swearing, just as “****”, “$#*!”, “#$@&%*!”, or similar, can indicate swearing (a series of typographical symbols used to indicate profanity is called a “grawlix”); an em dash is an extended dash (also known as an “em rule” or a “horizontal bar”), being a dash which is as wide as the height of the font being used (em dashes can also be used in place of a person’s name, so as to ensure anonymity; or used to indicate an unknown word)

bullocky = a driver of a bullock team

d. = a reference to a penny, or pennies (pence); the “d” was an abbreviation of “denarii”, e.g. as used in “L.S.D.” or “£sd” (pounds, shillings, and pence), which refers to coins used by the Romans, as per the Latin words “librae” (or “libra”), “solidi” (singular “solidus”), and “denarii” (singular “denarius”)

[Editor: Changed “famous versus” to “famous verses”.]