On Gundagai Common, overlooking the Murrumbidgee River floodplain where the events of 1852 unfolded, a bronze sculpture unveiled in 2017 commemorates two Wiradjuri men who turned a catastrophe into a story of extraordinary courage. Yarri and Jacky Jacky are shown with a bark canoe — the vessel Yarri used to make dozens of trips into the flooded ruins of the original Gundagai settlement, saving 49 lives. Jacky Jacky, with a rowboat, saved a further 20.
The original township of Gundagai was unwisely sited on the floodplain, against the warnings of local Wiradjuri people who understood the river's behaviour. When the flood came — one of the deadliest in Australian history — it was those same Wiradjuri men who mounted the rescue. The memorial is a quiet place with a good view of the river and the surrounding hills, and the story it commemorates is one that deserves to be better known.