An iconic statue that has been admired and photographed by countless grey nomads has been knocked off its sandstone pedestal in what the local mayor has described as a ‘senseless bit of vandalism’.
The Dog on the Tuckerbox near Gundagai in New South Wales’ Riverina region now lies broken and in the surrounding fountain.
The bronze statue at Gundagai was inspired by an 1850s poem about the bullock trains that traversed the region. It commemorates the early settlers and was immortalised in Jack O’Hagan’s song ‘Along the Road to Gundagai’.
The Cootamundra-Gundagai Mayor Abb McAlister told the New Daily that the statue was
The statue was knocked into the fountain. PIC: Lost Gundagai/Facebook
an important part of the community.
“It’s iconic, that dog, and the wishing well there,” Mr McAlister said. “It’s iconic to the Australian history – not only just Gundagai.
The dog is now missing an ear.
“It really makes you sick in the stomach,” said Mr McAlister. “When I found out, I was very angry.”
Jenny Allnutt, who runs the Dog on the Tucker Box Souvenir Shop, said the statue brought thousands of tourists to the region.
“It is hugely important. It is the image of Gundagai all around the world, so it’s really a huge insult to the whole town,” Ms Allnutt told the New Daily. “Gundagai’s mourning, Gundagai’s in shock … but the dog will rise again, the dog will stand proud on its plinth again.”
New South Wales Police are seeking a man and a woman who are alleged to have toppled the statue.
There will always be morons who have absolutely no concept of fairness to others. But at the end of the day there will always be people who do this. As a society we must also fix these items whether they be broken, graffitied, or damaged. This statue is an icon and must be repaired quickly. News reports state a young male from Wagga Wagga handed himself in and is on bail awaiting a lashing with a suitably wet piece of lettuce.
Once again if they catch the culprits typically a leftist judge will probably only give them a slap on the wrist. We have the laws and penalties in place, we just need judges to enforce the law to the full extent.
Malcolm said it, we need the judges to grow some balls and impose some approtriate sentences.Our justice system is a joke and the only people that cannot see it are the pollies and judges. Stevo.
Traveling up center of a Australia a few years back .we stopped.road side stop.with drop toilet.and. A brass fitting tap.we stopped for two nights waiting for our son to catch up.on the second morning. Went to wash my hands. Brass fittings gone.seen a man in small van it was full of scrap metal.did I him some lip. He took off so fast. I did not see him again.why do they have to steal. And for the toilet paper . I court a lady once. I went to my van and got $3.00 and gave it to her . And told her to put the toilet paper back. If you can afford to travel you can afford toilet paper.and she was in a very expensive rig.it is no wonder council get fed up.
Toilet Paper seems to be every whare there is some place to pull over. I live in the golden triangle Victoria where there were at one time thousands living and working on top of each other with no toilet paper and very little water. Have we lost something? or forgotten how to use a small shovel?
Alas that’s only a tiny part of a serious problem, Those plastic lined pull ups and nappies are a bigger issue they don’t break down, I have seen them thrown in to the bush within a few steps from a bin at a rest stop with toilet facilities ,Too busy changing the baby’s bum one handed with the phone in the other hand on a picnic table, the lady was back in the car with the baby and sped off before I was able to soak it all in.
Why are these things not totally banned ?, far worse than drinking straws and plastic bags.