Nine Miles From Gundagai

Traditional



I'm used to punching bullock teams across the hills and plains
I've teamed outback these forty years in blazing droughts and rains
I've lived a heap of troubles down without a blooming lie
But I can't forget what happened to me nine miles from Gundagai

Twas getting dark the team got bogged the axle snapped in two
I lost my matches and my pipe ah what was I to do
The rain came on twas bitter cold and hungry too was I
And the dog sat in the tucker box nine miles from Gundagai

Some blokes I know have stacks of luck no matter how they fall
But there was I lord luvva duck no blessed luck at all
I couldn't make a pot of tea nor get my trousers dry
And the dog sat in the tucker box nine miles from Gundagai

I can forgive the blinking team I can forgive the rain
I can forgive the dark and cold and go through it again
I can forgive my rotten luck but hang me till I die
I cant forgive that blooming dog nine miles from Gundagai

But that's all dead and past and gone I've sold the team for meat
And where I got the bullocks bogged now there is an asphalt street
The dog ah well he took a bait and reckoned he would die
I buried him in that tucker box nine miles from Gundagai


The Dog on the Tuckerbox is one of the few characters in Australian song to have his own monument. Erected in 1932, it still marks a popular resting place for passers-by.