Faust - an individual sense of style.

Ceiling Mural by Joseph August Faust, Collection of Parramatta Heritage Centre

There is much we don’t know about Joseph August Faust.  What we do know is that he was born in New York in 1871, of German heritage and spent his childhood in Pittsburgh.  He migrated to Sydney in 1887 and was working as a painter and decorator in 1890.  His first marriage to Mary Sparrow was in 1895 and they had a son Joseph Paul.  Mary died in 1925 and he subsequently married Beatrice Inch in 1929, followed by Ita Reeves in 1937.  He died in 1939 aged 67. 

Tom Thompson Mural

Tom Thompson, Mural, Parramatta City Council, 2013

Hidden away in the old Council Chambers Building at Parramatta, is a colourful mural by Tom Thompson.  It depicts various colonial views and significant historical figures of Parramatta.  The mural is very large measuring 632 cm (w) x 183 cm (h), painted in watercolour or gouache straight onto an internal plaster wall. The mural was commissioned in 1957 to celebrate the opening of the Council Chambers building in May 1958.