Frank Rusconi

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 at Araluen 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 first in 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 - Rusconi made the base of the Dog on the Tuckerbox monument and the rest of the object was cast at 'Oliver's Foundry', Sydney.^[2]
• 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.^[3]
• 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

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  A monument for a child at Galong

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  Monument at Gundagai

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  Monument at Gundagai

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  Cenotaph at Gundagai, designed and built by Rusconi

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  The Dog on the Tuckerbox

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  Rusconi's "Marble masterpiece"

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  Detail of masterpiece

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

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

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  Rusconi's own grave at Gundagai cemetery

References

1. Kerr, Joan (1988). "Rusconi, Francis Philip (1874 - 1964)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. Retrieved 2006-07-17.
2. Butcher, C. 2002, Gundagai: A Track Winding Back, AC Butcher, Gundagai, pp 212-213.
3. Butcher, Cliff (2002). Gundagai: A Track Winding Back. Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia: A. C. Butcher. p. 206. ISBN 0-9586200-0-8.

External links

• Panoramic close-up views of the Marble masterpiece