Grand in scope, filled with human yearning, arrogance, and development, this 2007 novel captures the long stretch of 100 years in the history of Australia, 1900 to 2000, beginning with the Snowy River flowing free and ending with the staging of the Sydney Olympics.

The boy Wilfred Lampe, the eponymous trout in his scaffolding of wood and wire and his skin of hessian and tin, opens the novel, stumbling about the streets of Dalgety in costume on his way to stage The Trout Opera. The opera never comes off; only later do we realize this is foreshadowing for what is to come to the Snowy River and its ecosystem.¹

“The world’s a stage” for Wilfred as the story progresses, and indeed he is asked to the world stage for the 2000 Olympic Games as the Old Man from Snowy River, a nod to the poem (Man from Snowy River by Banjo Paterson) that many think represents Australian values and attitudes (e.g., talent, skill, grit, and determination).

But while Wilfred lived his entire life by the Snowy River in the house where he was born in a landscape some considered little changed in one hundred years, the rest of Australia changed unimaginably in that same time. We have glimpses of the lives of others through the voices and experiences of his grand-niece who had so little connection with her family that she felt cast adrift.

In an interview, Condon says that he wrote the book after meeting an eighty-year-old man, Ray Reid, who remembered the great Snowy before the dams were built, which reduced river flow to 1% of its earlier strength. Condon found himself contrasting the beauty of the land with the urban and suburban lives of modern Australians.

The Trout Opera is Condon’s first novel, and he started it without all the skills he needed to finish it. But that very lack of expertise leaves readers with something rare: a story large in scope, size, and heart which encompasses his imaginings about the nature of family, the importance of wealth, indeed, the meaning of life…with Australia and the Snowy Mountains as backdrop. It gives readers glimpses into the national dialogue, the place of Australia in the world, and finally, an understanding of the rich heritage they have to preserve.

One prominent and unforgettable character is Graham Featherstone, nighttime radio host, who listened to the dreams and failures of countless sleepless folks who want to hear the voice of another in the night. Featherstone lets loose one night with his own despair and preoccupations about the state of civility and the loss of a national character, using all the woes he has heard and felt over the years to deliver one long rant. His cynicism and smarts is noted by his listeners, and he is asked to play another role as investigative journalist into the abduction of Old Man Snowy.

That is how he comes to be in the mountains at the source of Snowy, refreshed and relaxed, when the stupendous opening ceremony of the Sydney Games commences. The story has no ending, and indeed, ends with a word that signifies no ending. Life will go on, and it is up to each of us to search for those places and people that make our lives meaningful, wherever we may find them.



¹The Australian Alps in southern Australia, with peaks exceeding 6,600 feet, and are comprised of the Snowy Mountains and the Victoria Alps, and are the only bioregion of Australia where snow falls annually. With the effects of global warming, lower regions are experiencing a change in snowfall. The original damming project began in 1949 and ended in 1974, and decreased flows to the Snowy River by 99%, as measured at Jindabyne. Only later did political opposition and environmental awareness force a reassessment, to increase flows to a target 15% by 2009, and 21% by 2012.



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Mooie tegenstelling tussen het eenvoudige leven van Wilfred Lampe aan Snowy River tussen de schapen en het moderne Sidney waar de olympische spelen worden georganiseerd.
Een typisch Australische setting die daarom zeer interessant is om te lezen.

Inderdaad een magische vertelling van 100 jaar Australie vanuit verschillende gezichtspunten.
Erg mooi. ( )

Those who like their fiction set in an accurate historical context will find appeal in this book. It is accurately grounded in Australian history – the early settlement of the Snowy River and the establishment of Canberra as the nation’s capital.
The originality of the ideas that come together to tell the story, mostly through old Wilfred and Aurora, his young relative discovered late in his life, is one of its major strengths. The story spans the 100 or so years leading up to the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. As the story develops, its parallel threads blend into a rich tapestry in a way that seems effortless, but which in fact is testament to Condon’s skills as a writer.
Condon’s use of language, his metaphors and the descriptive narrative were wonderful, and his characters well drawn and believable. The secondary cast was as well drawn as were the characters of Wilfred and Aurora. Tick was so real at times he seemed to jump from the page, and Wynter was one of the best evil psychopaths I have read about for a long time. The tragic, opera loving Mr Schweigerstill, the hapless Featherstone, the arrogant Cranks, and Wilfred’s gentle parents and his grandfather were beautifully portrayed, as were the “City Folk” from those choosing the site for Canberra in the early days, the fishing friends the Judges, and the slick, Olympic ceremony organisers.
Condon’s treatment of Aurora and Tick and the whole issue of drug dealing and addiction thing was well done. No judgements, this is just how it was, including the birth and death of a drug addicted baby.
At times the plot was very slow moving. It is a big book, suited to being read slowly and quietly, picked up and put down, rather than demanding full and uninterrupted attention. On reflection, the slowness was probably a deliberate device on Condon’s part. Life was very slow in the early days of settlement in the Snowy River region, that was how Wilfred and his forbears led their lives and that was what Condon was taking us through. One hundred slow years, and one very fast bit at the end.
On an enjoyment scale I would probably rate it a little lower than I would as an objective reviewer of a quality work. Wearing the second hat, it is quite an exceptional book that could be around for a long time. It made me think about all the hype and the pace of life we live now. What have we lost sight of? What have we given up? Did Wilfred have something or know something about how to live life that means that despite his simplicity, he is a lot wiser than most of us?
Recommended. ( )

A quirkyness, earthiness that kept me wanting to jump to the next page. Read in 2 days. Loved the characters- they are still with me. Do it!

One of Australia's most underrated writers.