by Peter Carey, 2008
Somewhat surprisingly, this was a nice introduction to a brief visit to Sydney. It offers a little history, a little memoir and plenty of colourful storytelling set in a wide variety of Sydney locations. Carey tells stories about people from his earlier life in Sydney, combined with a contemporary visit to some of the same people. His scenes range from the Blue Hills behind Sydney to the straits offshore, managing to cover most of the tourist highlights, such as a climb up the Sydney bridge, a tour of the opera house and the ferry ride to Manley beach. He even manages to fit in many memorable un-touristy incidents, such as an attempt to go protect his friend’s home from a fast-moving forest fire.
Among the more memorable stories are two different tales of
fighting the wild seas of Sydney’s outer harbour and southeast coast down into Bass
Strait. The unforeseen hazards show why earlier mariners avoided the southern
oceans and failed to find Australia until 1770. Carey also illustrates the ignorance,
privation and corruption suffered by the first convict Britons who were sent to
establish a colonial presence in Australia.
He fills his stories with concrete details of the colours, sounds
and natural features that make them quite realistic. By the time I got to
Sydney, I was looking forward to visiting the places he describes, and felt I
knew a lot about them.
Carey is a novelist of renown, although I haven’t read any
of his books, so I was not surprised that he could write a good story. It made
me wonder, though, how factual the stories are. Did he really go through those
incidents with his friends, or are they reworked to make a better story? Or are
they all the products of a creative imagination? Some stories seem to be
clearly fantasies, such as the dreamlike midnight climb to conquer the Sydney
bridge. The histories seem to be solidly based in fact. These are all good
questions to have in mind reading any travelogue, and they might not have been
so prominent in my mind if Carey had not been a novelist.
The concrete details and storytelling approach that Carey
uses make a nice complement to David Day’s Claiming A Continent, which I read
at the same time.
