He was born at Araluen near Braidwood, New South Wales, the son of a Swiss goldminer and monumental mason, Peter Rusconi and his Australian-born wife Mary (née McCarthy).[1] Peter Rusconi was responsible for the stonework of the bridge over Majors Creek and the Anglican church in the mining village of the same name.[2]
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 monument and the (full size) model of the dog, from which the bronze was cast at 'Oliver's Foundry', Sydney.[3]
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.[4]
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,
