[4] In 1829, British pastoralist Peter Stuckey, with his brother Henry, were the first white men to appropriate land in Yarri's country around what is now the Gundagai region.
As a young man, Yarri was trained by the Stuckeys to be a stockman and farmhand on their Willie Ploma property (the name being derived from the Wiradjuri wille blumma meaning possum island which is the area of land south of Gundagai between the river and Morleys Creek).
The Taungurung men already had three guns and numerous spears in their possession and when their attempts to lure the colonists away failed, they shot at Stuckey Junior and a skirmish broke out.
[3] The Murrumbidgee, whose name is said to derive from an Wiradjuri word morunbeedja, warning of 'big water',[4] had inundated the area on several occasions in the past, in 1844, and August 1851.
[8] Old Aboriginals had cautioned people building in the district of its dangers, recounting that in earlier times, water had risen so high that it covered the tops of large gum trees.
[2] The difference between the two may stem from the fact that Jackey had the use of a boat, capable of holding 8 people, whereas Yarri's rescue efforts were conducted with a frail native bark canoe that could only carry two.
[10] Though poems and stories were published at the time celebrating the heroic efforts of the aborigines in rescuing whites, public recognition in terms of a material reward was slow in coming.
[13] A nulla-nulla and shield believed to belong to Yarri, was presented to the Gundagai Historical Society by John Hargreaves' grandson Dallas.
[14] Yarri suffered from an aneurysm, but refused to be transported to Sydney for treatment, and crept out of the hospital in April to return to his dwelling, preferring to die in the area he belonged to at Gundagai.