Frank Rusconi

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A pair of white marble monuments to the Ryan family at Galong, New South Wales
A pair of white marble monuments to the Ryan family at Galong, New South Wales

Frank Rusconi (20 August 1874 - 21 May 1964) was a quarry owner and monumental mason of Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia.

He was born near Braidwood, New South Wales, the son of a Swiss goldminer and monumental mason. After his mother's death, the family returned to Switzerland while Frank was a child. At age 15, he was apprenticed in first Italy and then Switzerland in the marble trade.[1]

Rusconi returned to New South Wales in 1901. he worked with his brother and father near Orange, New South Wales in a marble quarry they had discovered and developed.[1]

He settled at Gundagai in 1905. He died nearly 60 years later in nearby Cootamundra having been an active member of the Gundagai community since settling there.[1]

Notable works are:

  • the Dog on the Tuckerbox - a bronze work and not his normal medium
  • the Marble Masterpiece, a miniature building constructed of 20,948 individual pieces of marble. Work commenced in 1910 and was completed 28 years later. The work is on display in the Gundagai tourist office.[2]
  • tombstones are at Gundagai, Orange, Cudal and Galong cemeteries; the largest and most dramatic is a pair of white marble monuments to the Ryan family at Galong,
  • two war memorials at Gundagai
  • the marble altar in Tumut Catholic church

A monument for a child at Galong

Monument at Gundagai

Monument at Gundagai

Cenotaph at Gundagai, designed and built by Rusconi

The Dog on the Tuckerbox

Rusconi's "Marble masterpiece"

Detail of masterpiece

Tools used by Rusconi to carve his masterpiece, now in Gundagai Historical Museum

Rusconi's house in Gundagai, 'Araluen' on Sheridan Street near the cenotaph

Rusconi's own grave at Gundagai cemetery

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Kerr, Joan (1988). Rusconi, Francis Philip (1874 - 1964). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. Retrieved on 2006-07-17.
  2. ^ Butcher, Cliff (2002). Gundagai: A Track Winding Back. Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia: A. C. Butcher, page 206. ISBN 0-9586200-0-8. 

[edit] External links