Crowd looking at the recently unveiled statue of Yarri and Jackey, Gundagai, 2017

In the middle of the night on 24 June 1852, a catastrophic flood swept through the New South Wales town of Gundagai. The water rose quickly, destroying whole buildings and leaving people clinging in trees. Between 80 and 100 people died. The number of people who died would have been much higher if not for the heroic efforts of local Wiradjuri men. Over three days, they used a bark canoe and a rowboat to pull survivors from the trees. Four men helped, but we know only two by name: Yarri (Yarrie or Yarra) and Jackey (Jacky, or Jacky Jacky). Yarri rescued 49 people using his canoe, while Jackey rescued 20 using a rowboat. In 2017, exactly 165 years after the great flood, Gundagai unveiled a bronze sculpture of Yarri and Jackey with a bark canoe. Photographed by Michelle Aleksandrovics, 10 June 2017. Statue sculpted by Darien Pullen.