Masterpiece miniature in marble
And the dog sat on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.”
From the poem Nine Miles from Gundagai by Jack Moses.
I believe that it is generally conceded that the dog - ahem- pooped -in the tucker box but the story was cleaned up by Jack Moses and another bush poet Bowyang Yorke in their poems.
Anyway the Dog on the Tuckerbox is a bit of an icon and surely every traveller down the Hume has stopped and got a photo at the sculpture. And I’ll admit I may have stopped there once or twice over the years.
Today I discovered that Frank Risconi the sculptor of the Dig on the Tuckerbox has left behind an arguably significantly greater artwork- a miniature marble cathedral.
It’s on display at the Gundagai visitor centre and they ask for $3 per person to let you see it- and I assure you that is $3 well spent.
This miniature masterpiece took Risconi- whose other works include the steps at Westminster Abby by the way - 28 years to complete, working on many nights till 3 in the morning.
It was built without a drawing or a plan and assembled only on completion of all the components so it’s quite extraordinary; and it has nearly 21,000 exquisite marble components- all Australian marble- and is quite perfect at least to my untutored eye.
It’s a grand effort and probably one - like me- you haven’t heard of.
Well worth a stop next time you pass this way
