Frank Rusconi born in New South Wales (NSW), Australia was 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 15 years of age he was apprenticed first in Italy and then Switzerland in the marble trade.
Frank returned to NSW in 1901.  He worked with his brother and father near Orange, NSW in a marble quarry they had discovered and developed.
Frank 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.

Rusconi's Masterpiece took 28 years to build and was commenced in 1910 and finished in 1938. 
It is made entirely of NSW marble, in all, 20 different kinds.  The architectual design is the builder's own creation, yet he bore in mind the Baroque of the 17th Century, curves in preference to straight lines, heaving ornamentation, and the use of large amounts of varied coloured marble.

The masterpiece is a magnificent example of meticulous accuracy.  No plans of any kind were used during its construction.  Each section was finished then put away, for assembly on completion on the whole work.
Wikipedia and the Information centre in Gundagai.

We enjoyed looking at this masterpiece inside glass to keep it safe at the information centre.
Views of the masterpiece at different angles.  The colours of marble are just amazing when seeing it in reality.

The Prince Alfred Bridge in Gundagai NSW is a wrought iron truss and timer beam road bridge over the Murrumbidgee River and it's floodplain.
The bridge was named for the then reigning Queen Victoria's son, prince Alfred, and was built to carry the Great Southern Road (now the Hume Highway) across the Murrumbridgee.
The bridge opened in 1867 but then had bits added to it as time went on.

The Sheahan dual bridge replaced the older bridge in 1977 now part of the (Hume Highway), the old bridge was eventually closed to local traffic.

Gundagai Railway Viaduct with bridge was completed in 1902 and is 819.4m long.  It is Heritage listed.

Gundagai NSW

The site of Gundagai originally a sheep run called Willia Ploma, was surveyed ij 1838, and the town, a former riverport derived its present name from an Aboriginal term meaning 'going upstream'.  A disastrous flood in 1852 drowned 89 townspeople.

We stayed two night in Gundagai giving us more time to look around. Last year we didn't drive into town only stopped on a hill to have lunch.

The first photo was taken not that far from Gundagai.






The characters of Dad and Dave are well-known part of Australia's cultural history.  Created by Steele Rudd for his 'On Our Selection' novels, Dad, Dave, Mum and Mabel were characters set against the backdrop of land selection in the late 19th century.  The humour of the 'On Our Selection' novels struck a chord with readers, and the Dad and Dave characters formed the basis for a couple of silent films.

During the 1930's the characters became the basis of a popular radio series, Dad and Dave.
There was Dad and Dave from Snake Gully on the radio which was created by radio actor and producer George Edwards, the series ran for 16 years - an astonishing 2,276 episodes - finishing shortly after Edward's death in 1953.
For those interested you can here the very first episode of Dad and Dave [ here ].  The audio/episode goes for 12 minutes and it's priceless.


Yarri and Jacky Jacky the larger than life-size, bronze sculpture to commemorate the 165th anniversary of the Great Flood of Gundagai in 1852.
The sculpture celebrates the heroic work of Yarri and Jacky Jacky, along with other members of the Wiradjuri tribe in saving some 69 townsfolk from the floodwaters.

Just out of Gundagai is the Dog on the Tucker Box at Snake Gully in NSW.
The Statue of the Dog was unveiled by the then Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons in 1932 as a tribute to pioneers.
Joseph Lyons was born in Stanley Tasmania :)

The Statue was inspired by a bullock drover's poem, 'Bullocky Bill', which humorously describes a series of misfortunes faced by the drover, culiminating in his food being spoiled by his dog who sits either in or on his tuckerbox. (Similar to a lunchbox)

Before we went to Orange we drove passed Gundagai NSW not going into the town, we found a lookout and photo's are of the view we had from the caravan window whilst we ate lunch.

Songs and poems have been written around the area of Gundagai because the town represents a typical country town in Australia.

The song 'Along the road to Gundagai' was the theme song for 'Dad and Dave' and radio serial many years back.

Words to a song which was popular many years ago was written and sung by Jack O'Hagan.

   

Well there's a track winding back to an old fashioned shack
Along the road to Gundagai
Where the gums are growin' and the Murrumbidgee's flowin'
Beneath the sunny sky
There's my mother and daddy are waitin' for me
And the pals of my childhood once more I will see
And no more will I roam 'cos I'm headin' right for home
Along the road to Gundagai

There's my mother and daddy are waitin' for me
And the pals of my childhood once more I will see
And no more will I roam 'cos I'm headin' right for home
Along the road to Gundagai

Later in years made popular by the late Slim Dusty. This was the only version I could find!