It's got to be one of our region's best-known and much-loved landmarks, but the latest paint job on Adaminaby's Big Trout has prompted an outcry from locals.
"What a joke!" hollers one beer-swilling fisherman at the Snow Goose Hotel located directly across the road from the Big Trout. "It doesn't look anything like a rainbow trout," he grumbles.
"Even though it's been a couple of months since the paint dried, it's still the talk of town," reveals Steve and Fiona Brayshaw who run the Adaminaby Store, where an entire wall is dedicated to the history of the big trout.
''I remember when it was first erected - it was a huge event," recalls Steve. It's been touched-up and repainted several times but "there's never been such a spirited reaction like this".
Sydneysider Adam Wright, a former Canberran whose father Laurie helped erect the Big Trout in 1973, is also not a fan. "The paint scheme is atrocious," he asserts.
Meanwhile, the social media pages of fishing groups are brimming with heated chat about Adaminaby's famous fish whose controversial paint job was funded with a grant provided through the NSW government's Stronger Country Communities Fund and administered by the Snowy Monaro Regional Council.
"I reckon you, me and a box of bourbon could paint better than this," protests one miffed contributor on the Trout Trollers Australia Facebook page. Another gobsmacked fisherman says "the repaint is hideous; no discernible spots and the all-pink lower fins makes it look like a theme park paint job".
The paint scheme, which distinctly lacks a blending of the colours as per a real-life trout, has left high country fishing guide Michael Shanahan, aka "Mikey Finn", somewhat "embarrassed".
"I almost feel remorse, I should have put my hand up earlier and offered to help," he exclaims.
"The cool thing about this trout is that it's not stylised - the structural design is a magnificent representation of a rainbow trout, your summertime special up here on the Eucumbene, and it has had some perfect paint jobs through the years," he explains, "but this is not one of those."
While locals are not impressed with the unrealistic paint job, it seems tourists couldn't care less. At least those who don't fish.
Earlier in the week, your akubra-clad columnist sat by the 2.5-tonne, 10-metre-tall trout for an hour or two, accosting camera-toting tourists, to seek their reaction to the Big Trout revamp.
Remarkably, not one single tourist could understand what all the fuss is about. In fact, quite the opposite.
Take Shez and Kate from Brisbane, who while on holiday, drove all the way from Canberra just to eyeball the big trout.
Despite their GPS leading them astray via the rough shortcut along Bobeyan Road through Namadgi National Park, they were still thrilled to see the Big Trout.
"It's definitely worth that long bumpy drive, we love it," reveals Kate.
"It looks really fresh, the bright paint makes it look so good," declares Shez. "There are so many other Big Things around the country that are unkempt.
"You don't want it faded and looking crappy, us tourists don't know what the right colour is, we just want to see a big, brightly coloured fish."
Having finally quenched his thirst, my newfound friend from the Snow Goose saunters past.
"I guess the tourists only look at it for five minutes, but we have to put up with it every day," he quips.
Despite the tick of approval from tourists, the local council has listened to the tirade of complaints.
"In response to feedback received from the community, council has engaged the services of a bio-artist to advise on the changes to the current paint scheme," a council representative replied in a formal response to the community's concerns.
The council insider also sheds some light as to why the colours weren't blended.
"During the painting, windy weather conditions hampered the painter and meant that there was not sufficient time to work on blending of the stripes prior to the opening."
Doug Rogan, manager of the Canberra office of International Conservation Services - Australia's largest private fine art and conservation practice and the company appointed by the council to undertake the restoration work on the Big Trout - confirms the impact of the wind.
"Even though our paint brushes were only 5mm off the surface, the wind was so strong that paint was being blown sideways," says Doug. "Given we were under time constraints to finish the job, at that stage we made a conscious decision not to blend it.
"I'm aware of the angst about it being too stylised, but given we have already stabilised the damaged substrate, it will be much easier to make any cosmetic changes," he says.
As to the brightness of the red colour, "Within six to twelve months it will start fading," he explains.
The council has promised that once new paint designs are submitted, "they will be made available for public viewing and commentary through a public consultation process".
Watch this space.
Did You Know? The idea for the Big Trout was conceived by local Leigh Stewart, who met Hungarian artist Andy Lomnici while on a fishing holiday in the area in the early 1970s. Sketching a frozen trout on the floor of the local bowling club, Lomnici lovingly created the Big Trout initially at Anglers Reach before completing it in a shed on the Yaouk Road. It was unveiled in 1973.
A visit to the dairy
If, like me, you were wandering past the historic Duntroon Dairy last Monday at about 3pm, you would have witnessed an unexpected sight.
Propped up against a rock under the shade of a peppercorn tree outside the seldom-visited stone building, built in circa 1832 and regarded as one of Canberra's oldest, in deep contemplation was Ian Burke of Campbell.
Like he has almost every year for the last 50 years, Ian was marking the anniversary of naturalist Dr John Lhotsky's impromptu visit to the dairy during his 1834 expedition from Sydney, past the Limestone and Monaro Plains to the Australian Alps.
"He wrote the first detailed description of much of this part of the country and recorded the songs and language of the indigenous people," explains Ian, who wants to ensure Lhotsky's contribution to the understanding of our social and natural history isn't forgotten.
Last Monday's heat wasn't lost on Ian who on all but one of his annual pilgrimages reveals "the weather has been hot and sunny, just as it was for Lhotsky".
Lhotsky's journal entry for January 29, 1834, reads: "I was obliged to remain several hours at the dairy on account of the intensity of the heat ... and I was induced to try ... the efficacy of an aerial bath and it was only in that state that I was able to write, or busy myself in my usual way."
As the dairy is now locked up, Ian was unable to replicate Lhotsky's aerial bath [shedding heavier items of clothing and standing in a cool breeze] in situ, but each year Ian, whose family hails from the Monaro, delights in just being in the dairy grounds at the exact time Lhotsky was.
"I feel some sort of spiritual connection with him," explains Ian, who admits "some years I even keep watch out of the corner of my eye, half expecting him to walk up the path".
WHERE IN THE SNOWIES?
Rating: Hard
Clue: On an iconic Snowies track, but where exactly?
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to tym@iinet.net.au. The first correct email sent after 10am, Saturday February 3 wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.
Last week: Congratulations to James Nelson of Crestwood who was the first reader to correctly identify last week's photo as adjacent to the Eucumbene Dam Wall. The clue of "near a former tea house" referred to the Eucumbene Tea House which the stairs led to, prior to it being destroyed by fire in the late 1980s. Do you remember the tea house? If so, please let me know. Even better if you have photos.
Pooh's Corner sign resurrected... again
This column has received a barrage of queries from travellers on the Clyde asking what happened to the colourful Pooh's Corner sign, designed by the good folk at the Narooma Men's Shed and erected at the famous hairpin bend in September last year.
Sadly, in mid-January, during the height of holiday season, the much-loved sign was damaged by bullets, presumably fired from a passing vehicle.
"I was gutted, it took everything to hold myself together," admitted Rose Gauslaa, who was instrumental in the sign's original design. "Everyone at the men's shed is appalled - we can't believe someone did this."
Well, good news, after several weeks of toiling away, Rose and friends have repaired the sign, which is made of a combination of metal, perspex and timber, repainted the artwork and hope to re-erect it in the coming week.
Perhaps it's also time for the council to erect a surveillance camera.
- CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, GPO Box 606, Civic, ACT, 2601
