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Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ002135S
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00:31 I'm standing nine miles from Gundagai, a town famous for 00:36 the dog on the Tuckerbox. There's a statue here of, well, 00:40 a dog on the Tuckerbox. This old Australian word Tuckerbox means 00:46 a lunchbox only bigger. During the Back to Gundagai 00:50 celebrations in 1932 this famous statue was unveiled by the then 00:56 Prime Minister Joseph Lyons. It's a tribute to the pioneers 01:00 and bullockies who worked in the Riverina District of 01:03 southern New South Wales. More than 3000 people attended the 01:08 ceremony in 1932. The government Tuckerbox is part of Australian 01:13 folklore and comes from a poem that dates to the 1890s. It was 01:18 later reworked by Jack Moses. This poem is the inspiration for 01:22 the statue which has captured the imagination of the nation. 01:28 Now a bullocky is an Australian term for the driver of a bullock 01:34 team that transported timber, wool and supplies through the 01:38 country. They faced rough tracks river crossings, floods and 01:43 extreme weather. Jack's poem captured their difficult lives. 01:48 The last lines of the poem refer to the bullocky's dog going on 01:53 strike and refusing to work. 02:03 Apparently a teamster names Bill the Bullocky was on the road to 02:06 Gundagai in the 1850s. While leading his bullock team and 02:10 wagon across a creek nine miles from Gundagai, Bill's wagon got 02:16 hopelessly bogged in the creek. While he was trying to drag the 02:20 wagon out of the bog, one of his bullocks then broke the 02:24 wagon's yoke. Well that was enough for Bill. He gave up and 02:29 went to have his lunch but here to top off his bad luck, he 02:34 found his dog sitting, or worse on his Tuckerbox. The other 02:40 bullockies or wagon masters felt the incident was a great joke 02:45 and supposedly one of them wrote a poem about it that became the 02:49 legend of the Dog on the Tuckerbox. It's basically a 02:55 humorous take on all of the troubles that the early pioneers 02:59 endured and it's a typically Australian thing to make light 03:03 of difficult situations. Because the dog going on strike and then 03:08 sitting on the Tuckerbox wasn't the worst thing to happen in 03:12 Gundagai. You see, there's another story to be told here 03:16 and it really is about the worst thing to have ever 03:20 happened in Gundagai. But it's also a story of great heroism. 03:25 The reality is that in its early years Gundagai was the scene of 03:31 one of the worst natural disasters in Australia's 03:34 history. And the heroes were two local Wiradjuri men. Let's 03:40 investigate this forgotten story from the annals of Australian 03:45 history and it's a story that carries a special message for us 03:49 today. ♪ ♪ 04:10 Gundagai is a classic Australian country town situated in rural 04:14 New South Wales just four hours drive southwest of Sydney and 04:18 five hours north of Melbourne. Locals consider it to be the 04:22 most picturesque rural area in the Riverina and agricultural 04:27 area in southern New South Wales. Gundagai sits beside the 04:32 second longest river in Australia. The Murrumbidgee 04:36 River flows through the Australian state of New South 04:40 Wales and the Australian capital territory to where it joins the 04:43 mighty Murray River. The great Murrumbidgee flood plain at 04:48 Gundagai is crossed by the historic Prince Alfred bridge 04:52 and a railway viaduct. They are timber truss bridges that were 04:56 built by the early settlers. There are over 800 meters in 05:00 length and are a spectacular lattice work of wooden trusses 05:05 and are wonderful examples of early engineering solutions to 05:10 crossing a major flood plain. The Prince Alfred Bridge was 05:14 completed in 1867. It was named in honor of Prince Alfred, Queen 05:19 Victoria's second son. He was the first member of the British 05:23 royal family to visit Australia touring in 1867 and 1868 when he 05:29 was 23 years old. His visit was very popular and well publicized 05:35 Unfortunately, he was shot in an unsuccessful assassination 05:39 attempt in the Sydney suburb of Clontarf in March 1868. The 05:45 railway viaduct was built in 1903 and connected Gundagai to 05:50 the main Sydney-to-Melbourne mail line at Cootamundra. It's 05:54 the longest timber truss bridge every built in Australia and 05:58 today it is heritage listed. Now one of the first stone buildings 06:05 in the town was the Gundagai courthouse. Gold mining and 06:09 agriculture in the district had made Gundagai a prosperous 06:13 little town and it soon became a center for bush rangers, an 06:17 Australian term for robbers who stole and then sought refuge in 06:21 the bush. Here in this courthouse was the site of the 06:26 trial of a famous bush ranger Captain Moonlite. Captain 06:30 Moonlite's real name was Andrew Scott. He was born in Ireland in 06:36 1845. When he was 16 he moved to New Zealand and then to 06:40 Australia. He became the leader of a gang of bush rangers. They 06:45 robbed the Wondabadgeree homestead farm near Wagga Wagga 06:48 in 1879 and took 35 people hostage. Before the final 06:55 shootout with the troopers took place all the hostages were 06:59 released unharmed but in the confrontation a local policeman 07:03 was shot dead. Moonlite's accomplices and friends, James 07:07 Nesbitt and Augustus Wernike were also killed in the siege. 07:12 The surviving bush rangers, including Moonlite, were 07:16 captured and tried 07:17 at the Gundagai Courthouse and then retried in Sydney for 07:21 killing the policeman. Moonlite and his second in command were 07:26 sentenced to death and hanged. They were buried in Sydney's 07:29 Rookwood Cemetery in unmarked graves. But as he faced the 07:34 hangman's noose on the 20th of January 1880, he made one last 07:40 request. He asked to be buried beside his friend and fellow 07:43 bushranger James Nesbitt who had been killed earlier in the 07:48 farmhouse seige. It took 115 years to grant his last wish but 07:54 on the 13th of January 1995 Captain Moonlite's remains were 07:59 exhumed from Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney and finally laid to 08:04 rest at Gundagai next to the outlaw's friend James Nesbitt. 08:11 Well, with all this and more going on at the time Gundagai 08:18 developed a romantic bush appeal that resulted in it becoming 08:21 iconic in Australian folklore. Many outback stories, songs and 08:27 poems refer to Gundagai. Even the famous Banjo Paterson, 08:32 Australia's much loved bush poet wrote of the drovers, bullock 08:37 teams and bush travelers around Gundagai. Today in the very 08:42 heart of Gundagai there's a monument that's a tribute to one 08:46 of Australia's most popular radio programs of all time, Dad 08:50 and Dave. Australian author Steele Rudd's famous Snake 08:56 Gulley characters, Dad, Dave, Mum and Mable have 09:00 been immortalized in 09:01 copper. The radio show Dad and Dave was first aired in 1937 09:07 and ran for 16 years. The series is based on the stories in 09:12 Steele's book On Our Selection an old term for a farm. These 09:18 11 minute comic soap operas of the adventures of the folk from 09:21 Snake Gulley became legendary and can still be heard on radio 09:26 today. The radio program's connection with Gundagai comes 09:31 through its theme song Along the Road to Gundagai, written by 09:35 Jack O'Hagan in 1922. It really captures the spirit of this 09:40 town. It's catchy tune reflects the attraction of the Australian 09:45 bush for many people. It goes like this: 10:21 But there's another famous poem My Country written by Dorothy 10:28 Mackellar when she was just 19 that captures not only the harsh 10:32 beauty and splendors of the Australian bush but it's also 10:36 its unpredictable dangers. 11:01 Now the original inhabitants of this land the Wiradjuri people 11:05 two of the largest aboriginal group in New South Wales 11:09 once occupied a vast area on the plains west of the 11:15 Blue Mountains. They were people of the land. This was their 11:19 country. They lived here for centuries and knew the cycle of 11:22 droughts and flooding rains that Dorothy Kackellar wrote about. 11:27 And when the first European settlers arrived in the district 11:30 in the 1820s the local Wiradjuri people repeatedly warned them of 11:36 great floods that swept the Murrumbidgee. They strongly 11:39 advised them not to settle on the low-lying ground around the 11:44 river. But the settlers ignored their advice. They built a small 11:49 settlement on the rich river flats of the Murrumbidgee River. 11:52 And so it was that the township of Gundagai was officially 11:57 gazetted in 1940. In 1943, the first Gundagai post office was 12:03 opened. The town grew and prospered oblivious to the 12:06 dangers that lay ahead. On the night of Thursday, the 24th of 12:15 June in 1852 the river burst its banks and rose to a height 12:19 of 12 meters. A wall of water raced through the small 12:23 township and completely overwhelmed it. And that was 12:29 just the start of the disaster that became Australia's 12:32 deadliest flood. As people clung to their rooftops many were 12:37 thrown into the darkness by the raging torrent. Over the next 12:41 two days 89 people out of the 250 European residents are 12:47 known to have drowned. That was more than a third of the total 12:51 population who died in the town. And that number doesn't include 12:55 the isolated settlers and travelers in the wider district. 13:00 Seventy-one building were destroyed. The Old Mill is the 13:05 only building of the original town left standing today. The 13:09 rest of the town was engulfed and swept away. It was 13:14 completely destroyed. Though little known, this remains as 13:18 one of Australia's worst natural disasters. A newspaper from the 13:24 time described the scene as the floodwaters continued to rise. 13:27 On Friday morning about nine o'clock, the boat came from the 13:32 other side of the river to relieve Mr. Thatcher whose 13:36 family had taken to the loft. In recrossing the river the boat 13:39 was swamped and five children were drowned. From the fearful 13:44 current and the enormous logs that it was carrying down it was 13:47 impossible to attempt to take any more that day. As night drew 13:52 in the unavailing cries for assistance all-around became 13:54 fearfully harassing Crash after crash announced the fall of some 13:59 house and the screams that followed the engulfing of those 14:02 who clung to the water attained its greatest height about 11 14:05 o'clock at night. Up to this time about 34 houses had been 14:10 washed away and 60 lives lost. 14:16 However, almost another third of the population, 69 men, women 14:23 and children would also have perished had it not been for the 14:27 actions of a number of the Wiradjuri men and in particular 14:30 two of them, Yarri and Jacky Jacky. Yarri was a local 14:36 Wiradjuri man 14:38 who'd been working as a shepherd. He was the first to 14:41 plunge into the raging river in his bark canoe to begin the 14:45 rescue operation and he was soon joined by Jacky Jacky and 14:50 then by two other indigenous men who's names have been sadly lost 14:54 to history. To put you in the picture, by now the Europeans 15:00 who hadn't already drowned were on the roof tops of houses or 15:05 clinging to trees or floating branches. And over the course of 15:08 the next 48 hours Yarri and Jacky Jacky repeatedly 15:13 launched their 15:14 bark canoes up river and then paddled down in and around the 15:18 trees and houses in the raging flood waters searching for 15:21 survivors, plucking them from the water and helping them into 15:25 their canoes. Then they would deposit the rescued settlers on 15:30 the banks of the river. Then they would pick up their canoes 15:36 and walk up river and do it again and again until they had 15:41 rescued everyone they could find all that could be rescued. For 15:51 three days in the great flood of Gundagai Australia's deadliest 15:56 flood Yarri and Jacky Jacky proved that their traditional 16:00 canoes were both stable and maneuverable. The bark canoes 16:04 were also immune to the large logs in the water because they 16:08 had such a shallow draft and were made of flexible material. 16:14 Their heroism and compassion saved almost a third of the 16:22 township. Yarri and Jacky Jacky were given an engraved brass 16:27 breast plate each and then they were quietly forgotten. And 16:35 that's probably why most people have never heard this story 16:38 before. So the Dog on the Tuckerbox became the much more 16:45 important story for the town of Gundagai. In fact, the way that 16:50 Yarri and Jacky Jacky were forgotten and the struggle to 16:54 remember them are as much a part of the story as their heroism in 16:59 June 1852. Over the years some of the descendants of people 17:04 saved by the two heroes helped to erect some plaques to the 17:08 rescuers and eventually a few people began to be interested in 17:13 the story. In 2006, a poet and songwriter, John Warner, heard 17:19 the story and wrote a ballad called Yarri of the Wiradjuri. 17:23 In the ballad, the people say to Yarri after the rescue: 17:33 But when Yarri rejects their money, the people say: 17:42 And Yarri responds: 17:55 At the end of the ballad, the people reflect in these words: 18:22 The local aboriginal people applied to have Yarri and Jacky 18:26 Jacky honored posthumously with bravery awards and in 2017 a 18:32 magnificent sculpture by renowned Melbourne artist Garrian Pullen 18:37 was unveiled in the main street of Gundagai. The sculpture shows 18:42 Yarri and Jacky Jacky and their canoe and these interpretive 18:46 panels alongside the sculpture tell the story of the great 18:50 flood of 1852 and the heroic actions of these two brave and 18:56 skillful men. And in 2018 Yarri and Jacky Jacky were granted 19:03 their bravery awards more than a century and a half after their 19:07 courageous and compassionate deeds. 19:09 Awarded the bravery medal the like Mr. James Yarri McDonald 19:14 and Mr. John Jacky Jacky Moley to be accepted by 19:18 Miss Sonya Parker and Miss Rosalyn Bells. 19:25 Although most people have never heard of it, the great flood of 19:31 Gundagai was one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit 19:36 Australia. Yet it illustrates a much bigger disaster, the 19:40 biggest disaster to ever hit our world. Just like the people of 19:47 the Wiradjuri had warned the first European settlers not to 19:51 build on the river flats so too one who was older and wiser 19:56 warned our first parents against leaving God's protection through 20:00 disobedience. That's what the story of Adam and Eve is all 20:05 about. The Lord said this to them in Genesis chapter 2 and 20:11 verse 17: 20:22 By the way, the Bible doesn't say that the fruit was an apple. 20:25 We actually don't know what the fruit was. But we do know that 20:30 God set this up as a symbolic test as tangible evidence for 20:35 Adam and Eve that they always had free choice and that they 20:39 could choose to either stay in the safety of God's care or 20:43 choose to leave God and his protection. Faced with God's 20:49 command not to eat of the fruit of the tree, Adam and Eve 20:52 thought they knew better and so by not listening to God they 20:57 brought disaster to the world. They opened the flood gates of 21:02 sin that raged into the world. And sin always brings death 21:07 because sin separates us from God, the source of life. That's 21:12 why the Bible says this in Romans chapter 6 and verse 23: 21:20 Countless millions have perished in the flood of sin that came 21:26 into the world. Like the victims of the great flood of Gundagai 21:30 who tried in vain to cling onto their rooves and onto trees and 21:33 floating branches. Millions have tried to cling onto things like 21:38 material possessions, fame and fortune in order to avoid the 21:43 results of sin, but there's no escape. The waters of death have 21:48 carried them away. And then when we least expected it 21:54 someone appeared to save us. The last people that the early 21:59 settlers of Gundagai would have expected that they would need 22:03 were Yarri, Jacky Jacky and the Wiradjuri friends. After all 22:08 they thought they didn't need them. In the same way, to the 22:14 world, Jesus was the unlikeliest Savior. He was the one who 22:18 owned the world, but the world had rejected his claim and 22:22 rejected him. In fact, Jesus was treated as the worst of 22:28 criminals, judged as worthy of death and tortured and executed 22:32 in the cruelest possible ways. He was considered unworthy of 22:38 our respect. Why would Jesus come to rescue the world. After 22:43 all we had rejected him and turned our backs on him, but 22:47 still he came because of his compassion and love for us. By 22:52 accepting the guilt of the world upon himself at the cross, he 22:56 stopped sin at its source. By rising from the dead he overcame 23:01 it forever and then he offered salvation and eternal life to 23:07 everyone who would accept his gift. You'd think that now all 23:14 would be well for people everywhere, but you see, there 23:18 was a problem. Just like we forgot about the heroes 23:21 Yarri and Jacky Jacky, 23:23 so too, the world has forgotten about Jesus. Not only 23:29 has the world forgotten about Jesus but many don't even 23:34 believe that the story of his heroic rescue at the cross is 23:37 true and they don't believe that he's coming back again to finish 23:42 what he started. Instead people everywhere spend their days 23:47 their energy and their money on things that are nowhere near as 23:52 important as entering into and sharing the story of Jesus. We 23:57 spend our lives fiddling around the Dog on the Tuckerbox while 24:02 all the time there's a much more important story to be told. It's 24:07 the greatest story of courage, compassion and hope. It's a 24:11 story that says that the hand of God is still extended to us in 24:16 the person of Jesus Christ and that if we will just believe and 24:20 take his hand we will be saved. You can be part of the greatest 24:27 rescue ever. Eventually the people of Gundagai remembered 24:34 what Yarri and Jacky Jacky had done to save them. Eventually 24:38 they built a monument to their heroism so that they would never 24:42 be forgotten again. I don't know what kind of challenges you're 24:48 facing right now but I know this You don't have to face them 24:52 alone. There may be things that keep you awake at night and 24:56 stress you during the day. You may feel that you're about to be 25:00 engulfed and swept away. But it doesn't have to be that way. 25:04 There's a way out. There is a rescuer, Jesus, the one you may 25:11 never have known about or have ignored or forgotten. Or perhaps 25:15 even rejected all your life. He's extending his hand to you 25:19 inviting you to accept it. He's offering us safety and security. 25:25 He's offering true inner peace and happiness. All you have to 25:30 do is reach out and say yes and take hold of his mighty hand. 25:36 Recognize that in the flood waters of life you cannot do it 25:40 alone. Recognize that you need help and invite Jesus into your 25:44 life. He will build you up and strengthen you and grow you into 25:49 the person you will always meant to be. So if you'd like to reach 25:54 out and take the hand of Jesus, if you want true inner peace and 25:58 happiness, if you want eternal life, then I'd like to recommend 26:02 the free gift we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers 26:07 today. It's the small book, The One and Only. This book will 26:12 take you just 20 minutes to read but it could change your life 26:15 forever. This book is our gift to you and is absolutely free. 26:20 I guarantee there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. This 26:26 book has brought me hope, peace and happiness and I want you to 26:30 have a copy too. So make sure you take this wonderful 26:34 opportunity to receive the free gift we have for you today. 26:41 Phone or text us at: 0436333555 in Australia or 26:47 0204222042 in New Zealand or visit our website TiJ.tv to 26:55 request today's free offer and we'll send it to you totally 26:59 free of charge and with no obligation. Write to us at: 27:15 Don't delay. Call or text us now 27:20 If you've enjoyed today's journey to Gundagai and the 27:24 story of Australia's deadliest flood along with our reflections 27:28 on the greatest rescue of all time, then be sure to join us 27:32 again next week when we will share another of life's journeys 27:36 together. Until then may God the great rescuer keep you safe and 27:41 give you peace. Let's pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you 27:47 for the bravery of Yarri and Jacky Jacky and their commitment 27:51 to rescuing all those people. Their story reminds us of the 27:55 greatest rescue, your offer to rescue us from the challenges 27:59 of life and from the sin and guilt that often seem about to 28:03 engulf us and sweep us away. Please grant us forgiveness, 28:07 peace and happiness and eternal life. We ask this in Jesus' name 28:12 Amen ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2020-07-23