Jack Moses

Jack Moses (12 January 1861 – 10 July 1945)[1] was an Australian outback bush poet who wrote the poem "The dog sat on the tuckerbox" from which the well-known Dog on the Tuckerbox monument and the Nine and Five Mile legend of Gundagai were inspired.[2]

Jack Moses
Born
John Moses

(1861-01-12)12 January 1861
Haymarket, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died10 July 1945(1945-07-10) (aged 84)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Burial placeSouth Head Cemetery, Sydney
Occupation(s)Poet, elocutionist, travelling salesman
Notable workNine miles from Gundagai
ParentJohn Moses

Early life

Jack Moses was born in Haymarket, New South Wales, 'when cows grazed in Hyde Park'.[3] His grandfather of Jewish origins, John Moses arrived as a convict to Hobart on a seven-year sentence, before marrying an Irish lass, Mary Conolly, before moving to the Colony of New South Wales to become a pastry cook in Parramatta.[4]

His father, also John, had a grocery store, and Jack would go around with the delivery cart; at Sydney's first Royal Agricultural Show, he sold cigars.[4]

Professional life

Moses became a wine and whisky salesman travelling around Australia.[4] Commencing first with the firm of Frank Bouffier, this followed with thirty years as a Lindeman's representative, and finishing with Leo Buring (the latter two now part of the Treasury Wine Estates company). Travelling was by Cobb & Co coaches, sulkies and trains, before moving to motor car. This career allowed him to develop his reciting of verse.

He became the 'father' of the Country Promotion League, a scheme to advertise the primary resources of many country districts in Sydney.[4][5][6]

Moses' poem 'The dog sat on the tuckerbox', which has echoes of a much earlier Bullocky Bill by someone known only as "Bowyang Yorke", was considered by Gundagai Shire Council to be an important advertisement for their historic Australian town, and influenced creation of the famous monument, 'Dog on the tuckerbox',[7] five miles from Gundagai, and a 'Jack Moses Street' in Gundagai was named in his honour.[8] In his publisher's note in Jack Moses' collection of verse "Nine Miles from Gundagai" (1938), the publisher quoted Frank Morton saying in 1923 that he liked Moses' poems as they "dealt with the interests of real Australian bush people in a truthful, non-gloomy manner."[9]

Jack Moses remained a prominent figure in country shows throughout New South Wales and at smoke concerts where he recited his poems and told stories of the bush. Given to be a born reciter, renditions included the works of Edwin Brady, Henry Lawson, Will H. Ogilvie, Roderic Quinn, and Banjo Paterson.[10][11][12]

He counted Lawson as a friend for twenty years.[4] After years of championing by Moses, a book of stories about Lawson, Henry Lawson–By his mates by Angus and Robertson, was published in January 1932.[13] Contributing writers included Lawson's daughter Bertha Lawson, John Le Gay Brereton, Roderic Quinn, his brother Patrick Quinn, and W. E. Fitz Henry.[14][15]

His visits included Cootamundra, Cobar,[16] and Wingham and other North Coast shows.[17]

Later life

He later became an enthusiastic all-year swimmer at Bondi as a founding member of the Bondi Icebergs Club.[18][19] Aged 82, when asked 'What do you regard as most responsible for your great age, Jack?', Moses responded 'I'll tell you, sonny, I never go in!'.[4]

He married Lucy Florence Nightingale in Ashfield, Sydney, on 18 June 1900.[20] The daughter of a bridge contractor, she died aged 53 on Saturday, 3 September 1932, at her residence of 'Mirrabooka', New South Head Road, Vaucluse, and was buried at the South Head Cemetery.[21]

In his later years, Moses lived at the Hotel Arcadia in Pitt Street, in Sydney's central business district.[17] A testimonial fundraiser was held in June 1944 for Moses.[22]

On 10 July 1945 aged 84, the 'last of the bush troubadors', Moses died of heart disease at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital,[23] and was buried at the South Head Cemetery. Managing director W. G. Cousins of Angus and Robertson stated 'Jack Moses was a great barracker for Australia and what it could produce'.[24] He was survived by his son, John Moses.[25]

Works
Poems
  • 'Lock the Lachlan' (1923),[26] which led to the creation of the Wyangala Dam and the follow-up 1928 poem 'They're going to lock the Lachlan'.[27]
Books
  • Beyond the city gates (1923), illustrated by R. H. Moppett. As reviewed by another Australian port Roderic Quinn and fellow Bohemian, '[Moses] ... tells us in prose and verse of many, a pleasant experience met with by him in his wanderings far and wide'.[28]
  • Nine miles from Gundagai, and other verses, produced by Angus and Robertson was to be launched by Christmas 1937 but sold from April 1938, containing poems including 'The postage stamp' and 'To Wogga Wog-Gar'.[29][30] The book was reprinted several times (the fourth reprint was in 1972), and proceeds going to the Australian Red Cross Society.

References
  1. Rutledge, Martha, 'Moses, John (Jack) (1861–1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/moses-john-jack-13114/text23729, accessed 9 September 2011
  2. National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article42449438?
  3. "This Australia". No. Vol. 68, No. 3491. Sydney, Australia: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald. The Bulletin (Australian periodical). 8 January 1947. p. 12. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  4. "Jack Moses and `The Tuckerbox'". The Australian Jewish Times. Vol. 84, no. 2. New South Wales, Australia. 16 September 1976. p. 17. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Country promotion". The Maitland Weekly Mercury. No. 1394. New South Wales, Australia. 2 October 1920. p. 11. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Advertising Glen Innes". Glen Innes Examiner. Vol. 48, no. 4913. New South Wales, Australia. 20 March 1922. p. 4. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Gundagai's dog is gilt-edged investment". Smith's Weekly. Vol. XIX, no. 22. New South Wales, Australia. 31 July 1937. p. 13. Retrieved 4 October 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. Bell, O. (nyg — possibly 1980s), 'Tales of Old Gundagai No.2, Oscar I Bell, President of Gundagai & District Historical Society and former Gundagai Shire Councillor, Gundagai, p.3.
  9. Moses, J., 1939, 'Nine Miles From Gundagai', Angus & Robertson Ltd, London & Sydney.
  10. "Personal". The Grafton Argus and Clarence River General Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 26 April 1920. p. 2. Retrieved 25 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "Good Australian". Tweed Daily. Vol. XI, no. 283. New South Wales, Australia. 26 November 1924. p. 3. Retrieved 25 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "A kitchen drama". Tweed Daily. Vol. XX, no. 284. New South Wales, Australia. 29 November 1933. p. 4. Retrieved 25 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "Jack Moses rejoices". Yass Tribune-Courier. No. 288. New South Wales, Australia. 14 January 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. "Henry LAWSON's MATES". Sunday Mail (Brisbane). No. 451. Queensland, Australia. 17 January 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "Henry LAWSON". The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser. Vol. LXIII, no. 6533. New South Wales, Australia. 11 January 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. "Scotch concert". The Gundagai Independent and Pastoral, Agricultural and Mining Advocate. No. 160. New South Wales, Australia. 31 March 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. "Mr. Jack Moses dead". The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer. New South Wales, Australia. 10 July 1945. p. 2. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article976471?
  19. "Death of Jack Moses". Dungog Chronicle: Durham and Gloucester Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 17 July 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 25 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. "Family Notices". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). No. 6598. New South Wales, Australia. 3 August 1900. p. 1. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. "Mrs. John MOSES". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 29, 539. New South Wales, Australia. 6 September 1932. p. 10. Retrieved 28 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. "Jack Moses Testimonial". Cootamundra Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 13 June 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. "Jack Moses passes on". Tweed Daily. Vol. XXXII, no. 167. New South Wales, Australia. 11 July 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. "Poet Jack Moses Dies". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Vol. X, no. 95. New South Wales, Australia. 11 July 1945. p. 9. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  25. "Obituary". Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga). New South Wales, Australia. 11 July 1945. p. 2. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  26. "Lock the Lachlan". The Hillston Spectator and Lachlan River Advertiser. Vol. XXXIII, no. 3. New South Wales, Australia. 19 January 1923. p. 7. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  27. "They're going to lock the Lachlan". Cowra Free Press. Vol. 50, no. 3435. New South Wales, Australia. 14 September 1928. p. 3. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  28. "Jack Moses and his book". The Northern Champion. Vol. 10, no. 1097. New South Wales, Australia. 25 August 1923. p. 7. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  29. "Jack MOSES". Lachlander and Condobolin and Western Districts Recorder. New South Wales, Australia. 12 August 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  30. "Poems of Jack Moses". Sunday Mail (Brisbane). No. 420. Queensland, Australia. 8 May 1938. p. 3 (Magazine section). Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
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