The Trout Opera

This novel is the story of Wilfred Lampe a simple farmer who, at the end of his long life, is unconsciously swept up into an international event, the Olympic Games in 2000. On the way he discovers a great-niece, Aurora and together they take an unlikely road trip that changes their lives. Wilfred, who has only ever left Dalgety, a town in the Snowy River, once in almost a hundred years, comes face to face with the reality of modern Australia. This is a stunning epic road novel that encompasses the changing nature of the Australian character by shifting from one age to another into the Australian history and back and forth as the stories reveals themselves, producing a very seductive narrative structure.

This novel was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, 2008 and the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Best Fiction Book, 2008

Condon, Matthew. The trout opera, Milsons Point, N.S.W. : Vintage Australia, 2007.

Here an article about this work:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/an-epic-a-while-in-the-making/story-e6frg8nf-1111114814235