Celebrating The Things That Make Australia Unique
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AUSTRALIAN SONGS
Where the Dog
Sits on the
Tucker Box
There are over 30 old bush songs and poems about Gundagai.
I'm just a love-lorn weary coot and I've composed a song,
It's all about a girl I love and dream of all day long —
The rhythm seemed to come to me whilst milking fav'rite cow —
And as my hands went up and down I wrote this song I vow.
My Mabel waits for me underneath the bright blue sky,
Where the dog sits on the tucker box five miles from Gundagai —
I meet her every day and I know she's dinky di —
Where the dog sits on the tucker box five miles from Gundagai.
Now poets in the days gone by were often much inspired
By lovely wenches that they loved and otherwise admired.
But though they wrote some lovely prose whilst in a state of bliss,
Why even Shakespeare never wrote a poem as good as this.
As with most songs of this era, they were never written down when they were composed, but learned and passed from person to person by what they heard. So it was inevitable that there would arise different versions of the same song.
This song should not be confused with the poem The Road to Gundagai by Banjo Paterson which is quite different or the old bush song Along the Road to Gundagai. We also have on our website Nine Miles from Gundagai, Five Miles From Gundagai and Flash Jack From Gundagai.
That's a lot of Gundagai.
Disaster Hits Gundagai. In 25 June 1852 a flood swept away the town of Gundagai. It killed over 25% of the population, making it one of the biggest natural disasters in Australia's history. Three Aboriginal men are credited for rescuing over 40 townspeople. The men were honoured with bronze medallions.
