The larger than life-sized bronze sculpture of Yarri and Jacky Jacky stands on the corner of Kitchener and Sheridan Streets commemorating the 165th anniversary of the Great Flood of Gundagai. A raging torrent, the flood swept through the town on the night of June 24, 1852, leaving only three buildings standing and many people clinging for their lives.
The incredible statue reflects the heroic actions of two Wiradjuri men, Yarri and Jacky Jacky, who along with other members of the Wiradjuri tribe, worked tirelessly night and day to rescue a third of the Gundagai town’s residents. Using frail bark canoes some 69 townsfolk were rescued from what remains Australia’s deadliest flood in recorded history.