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Harry Heathcote of Gangoil
Trollope's only Australian novel, Harry Heathcote of Gangoil deals with the problems facing a young sheepfarmer, or 'squatter' (modelled after Trollope's son Frederic) in outback Australia. Using conventions of the Christmas story established by Dickens in the late 1840s, the novel shows Harry Heathcote thwarting the envious ex-convict neighbors who harbor his disgruntled former employees and who attempt to set fire to his pastures. Trollope draws heavily on his knowledge of the social and economic conditions of bush life acquired during a year-long visit to Australia in 1871-2.
114 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1874
14 people are currently reading
230 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Trollope
2,297 books1,765 followersAnthony Trollope became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day.
Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...
Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
October 25, 2025
“In England there were police to guard men’s property. Here, out in the Australian forests, a man must guard his own or lose it.”
Your mileage may vary, but I thought this was great! Probably 4.5 stars. It is a cowboy-adventure story set in the Australian outback. Way out in the Queensland bush, Harry Heathcote lives with his wife and her sister. Having grown up an orphan, Harry is trying to make it as a squatter. He has 30,000 sheep grazing on 120,000 acres of land, and it takes all he has to support and protect his family.
The problem is that Harry also has numerous enemies, including dishonest workers he has previously fired. They could ruin him simply by setting a fire to burn his fences and the grass: “One wretched man may do so much when everything is dried to tinder.” With only a few neighbors within riding distance, and even fewer that Harry trusts, his family thus lives under “the constant dread of coming evil.”
“To their thinking he was a proud, stuck-up, unsocial young cub, whom to rob was a pleasure, and to ruin would be a delight.”
This novel is unlike anything else that Anthony Trollope wrote. And it is also his shortest novel. (I wish it was longer.) Nevertheless, it still contains many of his trademarks, including complex characters, wonderful writing, a love-focused subplot, and deep insights into human psychology. For example, Trollope writes the main character, Harry, to be tough, manly, but vulnerable. Harry “bore a brave outside to all his men,” but struggled on the inside, such that “the mental loneliness of his position almost broke his heart.”
“He sometimes felt, when alone in the bush, that he would fain get off his horse and lie upon the ground and weep till he slept.”
The love subplot is wonderful, too, albeit unduly brief. Truly, I wish this novel had been about 100 pages longer. The love story itself needed another 30-40 pages to play out.
OTHER MEMORABLE QUOTES:
“It is a small and narrow point that turns the rushing train to the right or to the left. The rushing man is often turned off by a point as small and narrow.”
“Household deficiencies—and, indeed, all deficiencies—are considerable or insignificant in accordance with the aspirations of those concerned. When a man has a regiment of servants in his dining-room, with beautifully cut glass, a forest of lowers, and an iceberg in the middle of his table if the weather be hot, his guests will think themselves ill-used and badly fed if aught in the banquet be astray. There must not be arose leaf ruffled; a failure in the attendance, a falling-off in a dish, or a fault in the wine, is a crime. But the same guests shall be merry as the evening is long with a leg of mutton and whisky toddy, and will change their own plates, and clear their own table, and think nothing wrong, if from the beginning such has been the intention of the giver of the feast.”
Your mileage may vary, but I thought this was great! Probably 4.5 stars. It is a cowboy-adventure story set in the Australian outback. Way out in the Queensland bush, Harry Heathcote lives with his wife and her sister. Having grown up an orphan, Harry is trying to make it as a squatter. He has 30,000 sheep grazing on 120,000 acres of land, and it takes all he has to support and protect his family.
The problem is that Harry also has numerous enemies, including dishonest workers he has previously fired. They could ruin him simply by setting a fire to burn his fences and the grass: “One wretched man may do so much when everything is dried to tinder.” With only a few neighbors within riding distance, and even fewer that Harry trusts, his family thus lives under “the constant dread of coming evil.”
“To their thinking he was a proud, stuck-up, unsocial young cub, whom to rob was a pleasure, and to ruin would be a delight.”
This novel is unlike anything else that Anthony Trollope wrote. And it is also his shortest novel. (I wish it was longer.) Nevertheless, it still contains many of his trademarks, including complex characters, wonderful writing, a love-focused subplot, and deep insights into human psychology. For example, Trollope writes the main character, Harry, to be tough, manly, but vulnerable. Harry “bore a brave outside to all his men,” but struggled on the inside, such that “the mental loneliness of his position almost broke his heart.”
“He sometimes felt, when alone in the bush, that he would fain get off his horse and lie upon the ground and weep till he slept.”
The love subplot is wonderful, too, albeit unduly brief. Truly, I wish this novel had been about 100 pages longer. The love story itself needed another 30-40 pages to play out.
OTHER MEMORABLE QUOTES:
“It is a small and narrow point that turns the rushing train to the right or to the left. The rushing man is often turned off by a point as small and narrow.”
“Household deficiencies—and, indeed, all deficiencies—are considerable or insignificant in accordance with the aspirations of those concerned. When a man has a regiment of servants in his dining-room, with beautifully cut glass, a forest of lowers, and an iceberg in the middle of his table if the weather be hot, his guests will think themselves ill-used and badly fed if aught in the banquet be astray. There must not be arose leaf ruffled; a failure in the attendance, a falling-off in a dish, or a fault in the wine, is a crime. But the same guests shall be merry as the evening is long with a leg of mutton and whisky toddy, and will change their own plates, and clear their own table, and think nothing wrong, if from the beginning such has been the intention of the giver of the feast.”
December 24, 2019
I quite enjoyed this – a fun, little Christmassy read, though it felt very different to other Trollope books.
November 15, 2025
This was an enjoyable short Trollope novel. I don’t have many strong feelings about it. I saw my library had an audio version and it was a fun listen because the plot is dramatic. As I’m thinking about it, I could have used more to the story. There was a lot that could have been fleshed out. I enjoyed the Australian setting and the Christmas-in-summer.
October 9, 2017
Trollope's son emigrated to Australia and this is what came from visiting his son. It takes place on a sheep run in Queensland. I remember the fires from The Thornbirds, which helped me picture the land, and the great anxiety felt by our hero, Harry Heathcote.
But this might be Trollope's shortest novel! I was just ready to get invested in the characters when all was over. Still, I enjoyed my time spent with my favorite and won't stint him due to uncharacteristic brevity.
But this might be Trollope's shortest novel! I was just ready to get invested in the characters when all was over. Still, I enjoyed my time spent with my favorite and won't stint him due to uncharacteristic brevity.
October 13, 2014
Serendipity! That is what happens to me when I find a treasure like this little book. It is only 109 pages long but it is a powerful story. I found the audio book version on Overdrive and fell in love with the voice, not only of the narrator but the voice of the story! Peter Joyce was the narrator, but the voice of the story was all Harry Heathcote and Queensland/New South Whales, Australia. I'm not sure exactly where it was, but it was a huge piece of the country - all ruled over by a 24 year old self made squatter. That was what he was called. I had to look up the term.
It means he did not own the land he grazed his 130,000 sheep on. He owned his house and out buildings and shearing shed, and fences, and horses and sheep. He paid the Crown for the grazing rights.
What Harry loved was his wife and family. It is what he worked for and slaved for every minute of every day. He was proud of what he had made and built. He was ruler of all, but he had no one to confide in. No close friend and confidant to talk to. No one to tell his fears to. Some days he was so lonely he wanted to lay down on the ground and cry. But he didn't, of course. He couldn't. He wouldn't allow himself to show any weakness to his men and family.
The events in the story take place during the Christmas season, when it is hot in Australia. Hot and dry with a hot, dry wind blowing day and night and no rain. The fear of fire lives with Harry and his men like a living, breathing animal, ready to snap at them and get them into it's teeth and shake them, and stomp on them with it's long claws and paw them into the ground. They are always looking for it, waiting for it to come at them. If it were only mother nature Harry had to fight, it would not be so bad, but Harry has enemies.
It means he did not own the land he grazed his 130,000 sheep on. He owned his house and out buildings and shearing shed, and fences, and horses and sheep. He paid the Crown for the grazing rights.
What Harry loved was his wife and family. It is what he worked for and slaved for every minute of every day. He was proud of what he had made and built. He was ruler of all, but he had no one to confide in. No close friend and confidant to talk to. No one to tell his fears to. Some days he was so lonely he wanted to lay down on the ground and cry. But he didn't, of course. He couldn't. He wouldn't allow himself to show any weakness to his men and family.
The events in the story take place during the Christmas season, when it is hot in Australia. Hot and dry with a hot, dry wind blowing day and night and no rain. The fear of fire lives with Harry and his men like a living, breathing animal, ready to snap at them and get them into it's teeth and shake them, and stomp on them with it's long claws and paw them into the ground. They are always looking for it, waiting for it to come at them. If it were only mother nature Harry had to fight, it would not be so bad, but Harry has enemies.
December 4, 2020
I’m coming to realize that I’m a bigger fan of Trollope’s big novels than these shorter ones but this was an interesting read if simply for the fact that it is set in Australia and not Europe like his other novels. Of course most of the characters are immigrants from the old country and men like Harry seem at once determined to impose that country’s class structure on those around them while getting riled up against those ‘free-selectors’, men who own the land, compared to ‘squatters’ like him and his family. The story has a good old moral to the tale as Harry learns his lesson, there is a touch of romance and a villain or too and it’s a short enjoyable read which I’d have liked to have been longer.
January 21, 2020
I don't usually tag Anthony Trollope as "light reading," but this novella can be read in about two hours.
Harry Heathcote is his own worst enemy. With his strong sense of right and wrong, he lambastes anyone who doesn't fit his ideas of manly integrity. He inadvertently creates many enemies and lives in fear of their revenge.
Unlike Septimus Harding (hero of Trollope's The Warden, and one of my favorite protagonists ever), Heathcote is too pigheaded to ever gain the reader's affection. I struggled to like him or the book, especially since it had none of Trollope's witticisms.
Harry Heathcote is his own worst enemy. With his strong sense of right and wrong, he lambastes anyone who doesn't fit his ideas of manly integrity. He inadvertently creates many enemies and lives in fear of their revenge.
Unlike Septimus Harding (hero of Trollope's The Warden, and one of my favorite protagonists ever), Heathcote is too pigheaded to ever gain the reader's affection. I struggled to like him or the book, especially since it had none of Trollope's witticisms.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2021
At under 125 pages (the rest here is notes, introduction, etc.), this is a very short novel--if one can even call it that, as opposed to a novella. By Trollope standards, it feels almost more like a short story, given the compact action and the lack of much in the way of secondary plotting (an attenuated love story notwithstanding). It's a Christmas story, in that it is set at Christmas (in Australia), but it lacks most of what one expects form a Christmas story, I think; there is nothing supernatural, not much in the way of overt moralizing. It does have antagonists reconciling and a perfunctory love story, but if one didn't know it had been written and marketed as a Christmas story, one would probably view the Christmastime setting as incidental. The plot follows the eponymous character (based on Trollope's son Fred), a typically unbending and self-assured man, convinced of the rightness of his own position and almost proud of the harsh way he treats those who don't measure up to it--which is at least part of the reason he gets in trouble with his enemies. The bulk of the tale is taken up with his attempts to keep from being burned out during the dry season by arson designed to send grassfires sweeping through his property (yes--very Christmassy!). Anyway, if certainly zips by fast enough, but I doubt any readers other than Trollope enthusiasts would find it more than a trifling diversion. Certainly, It would not be high on the list of Trollopes I'd recommend to the neophyte.
October 26, 2010
Trollope wrote this as a "Christmas story" (like Dickens's A Christmas Carol) in 1874. Trollope disliked Christmas stories, saying in his Autobiography that "[n]othing can be more distasteful to me than to have to give a relish of Christmas to what I write", but the demand for his novels had begun to die down, and so he turned his hand to Harry Heathcote.
Trollope does provide the requisite Christmas story and happy ending, but he also shows his willingness to try new things; this novel is set entirely in Australia, unlike any of his other novels, and his evocation of Australian is really fascinating. The plot provides some tension, as the eponymous hero struggles to keep his land safe from arsonists, but the characters are less perceptively drawn and interesting than usual for Trollope; perhaps because he based his hero on his own son, Frederic, who attempted the sheep farming life in Australia (unsuccessfully, as it turned out), he wasn't able to apply his usual objective, searching approach to dissecting and showing the personality of his characters. There's also the requisite romance, but it seems put there for the sake of the plot and of the happy ending, and it's never particularly engaging.
In the end, the book is worth reading for Trollope's look at life in Australia, but the characters simply fail to be up to his normal high standards.
Trollope does provide the requisite Christmas story and happy ending, but he also shows his willingness to try new things; this novel is set entirely in Australia, unlike any of his other novels, and his evocation of Australian is really fascinating. The plot provides some tension, as the eponymous hero struggles to keep his land safe from arsonists, but the characters are less perceptively drawn and interesting than usual for Trollope; perhaps because he based his hero on his own son, Frederic, who attempted the sheep farming life in Australia (unsuccessfully, as it turned out), he wasn't able to apply his usual objective, searching approach to dissecting and showing the personality of his characters. There's also the requisite romance, but it seems put there for the sake of the plot and of the happy ending, and it's never particularly engaging.
In the end, the book is worth reading for Trollope's look at life in Australia, but the characters simply fail to be up to his normal high standards.
December 22, 2020
The shortest Trollope I’ve read, but enjoyable enough. And it is a Christmas story told through the drama of an Australian fire, and enmity between neighbors, yet Trollope works a love story into the mix.
January 3, 2017
Much more fun on my second read. Fast paced, evocative setting, action, romance. All in 12 chapters. Who could ask for more?
February 26, 2025
Trollope writes a Western. I mean, it’s a legit cowboy story. Ranchers stop desperados from torching their property. Except it’s not in Texas, it’s in Australia. I mean, it’s ready made for a Gunsmoke episode.
I think Trollope might have been an excellent TV writer. Like David Simon or Aaron Sorkin. He was a writing machine. He’s one of the most prolific Victorian writers. He wrote more novels than Dickens, Austen, Thackeray, and George Eliot combined.
In addition to being prolific, he was good at writing long, intricate, page turners with lots of entertaining subplots.
ANYHOW, this is a short novel (one volume in old publishing parlance) about a sheep rancher who is kind of a jerk. He learns the value of friendship. Oh, and it’s Christmas too!
Not his best work, but I appreciate that he’s out of his comfort zone.
I think Trollope might have been an excellent TV writer. Like David Simon or Aaron Sorkin. He was a writing machine. He’s one of the most prolific Victorian writers. He wrote more novels than Dickens, Austen, Thackeray, and George Eliot combined.
In addition to being prolific, he was good at writing long, intricate, page turners with lots of entertaining subplots.
ANYHOW, this is a short novel (one volume in old publishing parlance) about a sheep rancher who is kind of a jerk. He learns the value of friendship. Oh, and it’s Christmas too!
Not his best work, but I appreciate that he’s out of his comfort zone.
October 4, 2023
This Christmas story gets 4 stars from me - it might have been 5 stars had I read it as a paperback. But I listened to it as an Audiobook and it did not really click between me and the person who read it. It is a true Christmas story - all about learning to forgive and appreciate your fellowman. Harry Heathcote is not always an easy protagonist to root for, but he tries his best and I did end up liking him quite a lot. It is a short story with some very exciting action scenes. I never look at a cigarette the same ;-).
May 29, 2020
3.5 stars
December 28, 2022
A cute Australian Christmas read but nothing more. Probably could’ve been condensed into a short story.
March 6, 2014
mp3This is an unabridged version running for 4.3 hours. Read by Peter Joyce.
Synopsis - A young Englishman, Harry Heathcote, had leased 120,000 acres of bush from the Australian government, on which he ran 30,000 sheep. With him at Gangoil lived his wife, two small sons and his sister-in-law Kate Daly.
Giles Medlicot was his nearest neighbor, but the two men had not become friends. Medlicot had purchased land that lay between Gangoil and the river for a sugar plantation and had erected a sugar-mill. The loss of the river frontage was a serious matter to Heathcote and he considered its acquisition by his neighbor a personal affront.
This was the more unfortunate as Kate Daly and Medlicot had already fallen in love. Heathcote, high-tempered and imperious, had made many enemies, not only of some of his own workers whom he had discharged, but also of his lawless neighbours, the Brownbies, a father and six sons, whose cattle range bordered on Gangoil.
In December when the bush was very dry and fires frequent, the Brownbies, joined by two of Harry's discharged sheepmen since employed by Medlicot, attempted to burn out the entire range. Heathcote and his men spent day and night in the saddle and were later joined by Medlicot - who helped him control the fires, and to win in a pitched battle with the Brownbie gang.
Nope - NEXT!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2016
This is the worst thing I've read by Trollope. It's pretty good!
Knowing nothing about it, I had three surprises. One was that it is set in the Australian bush, rather far from the London and provincial towns of his usual fare. Another that it is a sort of Christmas story, which worked rather well as I started into it the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas in the Australian heat is strange to his emigrant characters and his British readers alike, and Trollope has fun replicating, but sometimes in an inverted fashion, the themes of family, fellowship, and redemption that you would find in, most familiarly, the Dickens Christmas novels.
The third surprise was that, as I might have expected from a Christmas novel, it is much, much shorter than most Trollope novels. Since I was listening, I didn't get the "telltale compression of the pages," and the book ended rather abruptly just as I felt like the characters and setting had all been introduced, and was wondering what would happen next. If I read it again, it will be interesting to see how differently the pacing feels when you know that what I thought of as the opening gambit is actually the central plot.
Knowing nothing about it, I had three surprises. One was that it is set in the Australian bush, rather far from the London and provincial towns of his usual fare. Another that it is a sort of Christmas story, which worked rather well as I started into it the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas in the Australian heat is strange to his emigrant characters and his British readers alike, and Trollope has fun replicating, but sometimes in an inverted fashion, the themes of family, fellowship, and redemption that you would find in, most familiarly, the Dickens Christmas novels.
The third surprise was that, as I might have expected from a Christmas novel, it is much, much shorter than most Trollope novels. Since I was listening, I didn't get the "telltale compression of the pages," and the book ended rather abruptly just as I felt like the characters and setting had all been introduced, and was wondering what would happen next. If I read it again, it will be interesting to see how differently the pacing feels when you know that what I thought of as the opening gambit is actually the central plot.
October 27, 2012
My least favorite by far of all Trollope novels I've read, this is a simple story set in the Australian bush with very few likable characters. Maybe I'm just yearning for the county of Barset and the robust characters that reside there.
July 13, 2015
I read/listen to Trollope for the characterizations, not for the plot. Fun enough to accompany my ironing pile.
December 14, 2023
You wouldn't be able to tell from the title...or from the cover...or even from most of the plot 😅, but "Harry Heathecote of Gangoil" is a Christmas story, which is why I joined a buddy read of this classic novella this month. It was one of my reading resolutions for 2023 to read something by Anthony Trollope, and I read one of his shortest novels, "The Warden," in February, and now I have read this little-known novella in December. So I am fulfilling my goals...with the least possible effort 😂. It's not that I haven't enjoyed Trollope's writing! I have, and I would like to read more by him. But the majority of his best-known books are lonnnngggg. Maybe next year. I can make another resolution. 😆
Meanwhile, back to "Harry Heathecote of Gangoil"! I have learned from my buddy read friends that this novella is unique in that it is the only book that Trollope set in Australia, rather than England. Trollope's son immigrated to Australia, and Trollope visited him there in 1871. He took much of his inspiration for this story from his son Frederick's sheep farm. There are still Trollope descendants living in Australia!
I enjoyed "Harry Heathcote of Gangoil." At 116 pages, it is a very quick read, but there is a big, emotional, and exciting story packed in there. Harry is a character with depth - a driven, exacting, proud person, but with a big heart. The question of whether his vast stretches of land and pasture are going to be burned by his enemies - people he has offended by his relentless pursuit of truth and high-handed manner - is gripping. The drama comes to a head on Christmas Eve, with a lovely Christmas Day resolution and reconciliation and even a whiff of romance (**if you can call it a romance when it's a "you're the only eligible male/female within 50 miles of this remote place, so let's get married" situation ). It was fun to learn a little bit about Australian history and culture of that time period: the squatters vs. the free selectors; and a "nobbler" is a great name for a shot of alcohol. It was definitely odd to read a Christmas story set in a heat wave with wildfire warnings, but of course, it's the Southern hemisphere!
Overall, this is an easy and fun read. If you have been looking for that elusive Australian sheep farming in the 1800s Christmas story, look no farther!
Meanwhile, back to "Harry Heathecote of Gangoil"! I have learned from my buddy read friends that this novella is unique in that it is the only book that Trollope set in Australia, rather than England. Trollope's son immigrated to Australia, and Trollope visited him there in 1871. He took much of his inspiration for this story from his son Frederick's sheep farm. There are still Trollope descendants living in Australia!
I enjoyed "Harry Heathcote of Gangoil." At 116 pages, it is a very quick read, but there is a big, emotional, and exciting story packed in there. Harry is a character with depth - a driven, exacting, proud person, but with a big heart. The question of whether his vast stretches of land and pasture are going to be burned by his enemies - people he has offended by his relentless pursuit of truth and high-handed manner - is gripping. The drama comes to a head on Christmas Eve, with a lovely Christmas Day resolution and reconciliation and even a whiff of romance (**if you can call it a romance when it's a "you're the only eligible male/female within 50 miles of this remote place, so let's get married" situation ). It was fun to learn a little bit about Australian history and culture of that time period: the squatters vs. the free selectors; and a "nobbler" is a great name for a shot of alcohol. It was definitely odd to read a Christmas story set in a heat wave with wildfire warnings, but of course, it's the Southern hemisphere!
Overall, this is an easy and fun read. If you have been looking for that elusive Australian sheep farming in the 1800s Christmas story, look no farther!
January 10, 2025
‘Harry Heathcote of Gangoil’ (1874), is one of the most charming of Trollope's shorter novels, with a young but curmudgeonly hero, a squatter in Western Australia. We like him because abrasive though he is with employees and neighbours alike, his concern for the people and livestock dependent on him for their safety and well-being is at all times uppermost in his mind.
The danger of fire on the station is very real, thanks not so much to the heat of an Australian summer (which can be deadly), as to the spite of the young land- and sheep-owner’s ex employees. The suspense is built from the first sentence itself, and the menacing, brooding atmosphere of hostility, suspicion and distrust is almost tangible. Harry’s wife does all she can to help him; she tries to maintain social civilities with the neighbours that her husband had alienated; makes sure he gets sufficient rest, shields his sleeping face from the sun, but there is little else she can do. “Speak a word to me about it,” his wife said to him, imploringly, when they were alone together that night. “My darling, if there were a word to say, I would say it. I must be on the watch, and do the best I can. At present the earth is too damp for mischief.” “Oh that it would rain again!”
Although it is too short to have the structural complexities of plot or development of character that are the measure of his lengthier works, Trollope's other concern - an attitude towards money, and how each person reacts to its lack - is very much to the fore. Heathcote’s sense of responsibility and hard work is on account of his wife, her young sister and his son, not love of possession of land or money for itself or even for him personally.
Since this is meant to be a Christmas story, there is a conventional sop to romance and reward. Altogether, the novel paints a vivid picture of the life and hazards of a sheep farmer in turn-of century Australia, as detailed and realistic as any of Trollope's Irish or German settings.
The danger of fire on the station is very real, thanks not so much to the heat of an Australian summer (which can be deadly), as to the spite of the young land- and sheep-owner’s ex employees. The suspense is built from the first sentence itself, and the menacing, brooding atmosphere of hostility, suspicion and distrust is almost tangible. Harry’s wife does all she can to help him; she tries to maintain social civilities with the neighbours that her husband had alienated; makes sure he gets sufficient rest, shields his sleeping face from the sun, but there is little else she can do. “Speak a word to me about it,” his wife said to him, imploringly, when they were alone together that night. “My darling, if there were a word to say, I would say it. I must be on the watch, and do the best I can. At present the earth is too damp for mischief.” “Oh that it would rain again!”
Although it is too short to have the structural complexities of plot or development of character that are the measure of his lengthier works, Trollope's other concern - an attitude towards money, and how each person reacts to its lack - is very much to the fore. Heathcote’s sense of responsibility and hard work is on account of his wife, her young sister and his son, not love of possession of land or money for itself or even for him personally.
Since this is meant to be a Christmas story, there is a conventional sop to romance and reward. Altogether, the novel paints a vivid picture of the life and hazards of a sheep farmer in turn-of century Australia, as detailed and realistic as any of Trollope's Irish or German settings.
December 30, 2025
Trollope's novella of the mid-1870s illustrates the conflict in settler Queensland between 'squatters' (the equivalent of an English landed class, who have leased land often as large as an English county from the crown) and 'free selectors', who have bought the best pockets of land on the larger ranges. At first, the young patriarch, Heathcote, of the title, an imperious but fast-learning twenty-four year-old on the way to making his fortune, resents the purchase of a piece of his frontage on the Mary River by Medlicot, a Borders man, a gentleman but of a lower station than himself, who is trying his hand at sugar canes. The novella's story, an unusual Christmas tale, sees the rapprochement of these two men, and their eventual familial alliance, as Medlicot, who has Australian notions of someone being a 'new chum', essentially honest until proven otherwise, acts on Heathcote's suspicions of a rogue or cur he dismissed for drunkenness. This man, Nokes, does indeed intend to torch part of a horse rustler's family's land adjoining Heathcote's on a hot windy summer's night--which would ruin him.
The best section of the book is the action sequence as Heathcote and five fellows fight a line, about a quarter a mile long, of fire by depriving it of grass, starting and putting out fires of their own. The Brownbies with Nokes and other allies come into direct physical contact with Heathcote's group, who come out the better through the repentant help of the dressy sugar cane farmer Medlicot. The story's politics are unashamedly 'patriarchal' (Trollope's word) and landed or capitalist. medlicot should have never taken on the disgraced hand, who should have had to wander like an animal or Flying Dutchman. Trollope's effort to transpose the codes and fine grain of English gentlemanliness to the bush is obvious and cumbersome, but not without both deliberated and unconscious interest.
The best section of the book is the action sequence as Heathcote and five fellows fight a line, about a quarter a mile long, of fire by depriving it of grass, starting and putting out fires of their own. The Brownbies with Nokes and other allies come into direct physical contact with Heathcote's group, who come out the better through the repentant help of the dressy sugar cane farmer Medlicot. The story's politics are unashamedly 'patriarchal' (Trollope's word) and landed or capitalist. medlicot should have never taken on the disgraced hand, who should have had to wander like an animal or Flying Dutchman. Trollope's effort to transpose the codes and fine grain of English gentlemanliness to the bush is obvious and cumbersome, but not without both deliberated and unconscious interest.
December 8, 2019
Had I read this book without being told that it was Trollope, I probaby wouldn't have guessed. it's not just that it is set in Australia, is short and is a Christmas story, though all of those things are very unTrollope. The characters here are a far cry from the Anglican clergy, aristocrats, capitalists, social climbers, fortune hunters and schemers who popluate Trollope's other novels. Here we have proud settlers making their way in a new land, farmers imbued with the culture of honor that famously characterizes herding societies and the Scotch Irish settlers of the American South -- following a strict code of personal moral rules, intensely loyal to a few close friends and family, quick to anger when honor is offended, open to strangers, but also suspicious of them. Harry Heathcote is most definitely a man of honor, but that makes him a strong and interesting character, flawed, but fully capable of redempton.
On a deeper level, beyond the unusual setting and characters, there are still clear marks of our familiar Trollope in this book, with strong plot and characters in a page turning story that revolves around social connections and conventions. As always the prose is decent and straightforward, admirably serving the plot and characters in a workmanlike way. The writing doesn't have great beauty so perhaps an opportunity is lost to immerse the reader in the character and beauty of Austrialia, but that's not what I expect from Trollope, so I hardly felt the loss.
On a deeper level, beyond the unusual setting and characters, there are still clear marks of our familiar Trollope in this book, with strong plot and characters in a page turning story that revolves around social connections and conventions. As always the prose is decent and straightforward, admirably serving the plot and characters in a workmanlike way. The writing doesn't have great beauty so perhaps an opportunity is lost to immerse the reader in the character and beauty of Austrialia, but that's not what I expect from Trollope, so I hardly felt the loss.
January 8, 2023
Well, here I am in 2023. My New Year’s resolution, made months ago, was to curl up and read more Trollope. I have read the Barchester novels more than once, along with other Trollope novels, but thought how wonderful to devote much of my reading time to discovering more Trollope.
I knew that Harry Heathcote was short, was the only of Trollope’s novels set firmly outside England, and was considered a Christmas novel. What could possibly go wrong?
Enter reality. I’m not sure any novel can be considered a Christmas novel just because it is set near Christmas. I don’t believe any novel that shows a person gaining understanding, and a plot touched with love, can be twisted into the phrase ´Christmas Novel.´ But this is nitpicking, so let’s continue.
This text is actually a novella. It does offer the reader a look at the hreat hardships that existed in Australia during that country’s formative years. Harry Heathcote is a person of strong character, perhaps too strong for his own good. There is little of Trollope’s usual clever wit or humour in the novel. The characters are flat and offered little interest to this reader. All in all, I did not enjoy the novel.
Still, I remain firm in my anticipation that my reading of Trollope will be a marvellous journey. If anyone else wants to read Trollope I urge you to do so. May I suggest, however, you travel first to his novel ‘The Warden.’ Spend lots of time exploring the Barchester series, in order of publication if possible. Just don’t start with Harry Heathcote. That novel is as dry as the Australian outback. :- )
I knew that Harry Heathcote was short, was the only of Trollope’s novels set firmly outside England, and was considered a Christmas novel. What could possibly go wrong?
Enter reality. I’m not sure any novel can be considered a Christmas novel just because it is set near Christmas. I don’t believe any novel that shows a person gaining understanding, and a plot touched with love, can be twisted into the phrase ´Christmas Novel.´ But this is nitpicking, so let’s continue.
This text is actually a novella. It does offer the reader a look at the hreat hardships that existed in Australia during that country’s formative years. Harry Heathcote is a person of strong character, perhaps too strong for his own good. There is little of Trollope’s usual clever wit or humour in the novel. The characters are flat and offered little interest to this reader. All in all, I did not enjoy the novel.
Still, I remain firm in my anticipation that my reading of Trollope will be a marvellous journey. If anyone else wants to read Trollope I urge you to do so. May I suggest, however, you travel first to his novel ‘The Warden.’ Spend lots of time exploring the Barchester series, in order of publication if possible. Just don’t start with Harry Heathcote. That novel is as dry as the Australian outback. :- )
September 20, 2024
A very quick, very atypical Victorian novel.
It’s a sweltering hot Christmas in Australia and Harry Heathcote is worried that his neighbors are planning to ignite a bushfire and destroy his property. Most of the drama comes from Harry’s British expectations clashing with the less structured (and more law-bending) lives of the locals. The action scenes are effective, but most of the time is spent fleshing out the two main characters, Harry and his frenemy neighbor. The female characters have very little to do, aside from a rushed romantic subplot in the last few chapters.
If I say the words “Victorian Christmas novel,” what image comes to mind? You’re probably thinking of snow-filled London, orphans, couples huddling by the fireplace. Well, Harry Heathcote of Gangoil is the exact opposite of what you’d expect from a Victorian Christmas novel, and even though it’s not amazing, it’s definitely interesting enough to read.
It’s a sweltering hot Christmas in Australia and Harry Heathcote is worried that his neighbors are planning to ignite a bushfire and destroy his property. Most of the drama comes from Harry’s British expectations clashing with the less structured (and more law-bending) lives of the locals. The action scenes are effective, but most of the time is spent fleshing out the two main characters, Harry and his frenemy neighbor. The female characters have very little to do, aside from a rushed romantic subplot in the last few chapters.
If I say the words “Victorian Christmas novel,” what image comes to mind? You’re probably thinking of snow-filled London, orphans, couples huddling by the fireplace. Well, Harry Heathcote of Gangoil is the exact opposite of what you’d expect from a Victorian Christmas novel, and even though it’s not amazing, it’s definitely interesting enough to read.
January 6, 2023
4 stars mainly just for the language and readability. 3.5 stars if I could give it. This was my intro to Anthony Trollope and I was not incredibly impressed with this story though I did enjoy it quite a bit. It was a fun christmas story centered in the Australian bush. I know this is not one of Trollope’s best works so I will definitely be giving him another try at some point. Again I did enjoy the language, minus the inconsistent and awkward attempts at portraying and using Australian slang and accent. And the story was very readable. I think my expectations for the author were too high and expected something unrealistic out of this short novel. This was still an enjoyable read and deserves its solid 3.5 stars.
December 12, 2023
Well, that turned out all right. I didn't care for it too much for the first two-thirds, because it had too much of the bush in it, and not enough of the people. But the last third was good enough to warrant finishing. It truly felt like Trollope there at the end.
I find the story of his visit to Australia more interesting than the fiction he produced about the place. I am not much a fan of fiction set in Australia. It is too hot, too wild and too barren for my tastes. People always seem to be dying in the bush. But his trip there to visit his son seems very interesting, so I will have to look for his non-fiction about that.
Not a bad little piece, and I'm always happy to have read more Anthony.
I find the story of his visit to Australia more interesting than the fiction he produced about the place. I am not much a fan of fiction set in Australia. It is too hot, too wild and too barren for my tastes. People always seem to be dying in the bush. But his trip there to visit his son seems very interesting, so I will have to look for his non-fiction about that.
Not a bad little piece, and I'm always happy to have read more Anthony.
February 27, 2023
The first Anthony Trollope I have ever read but a real little winner. It’s atypical amongst the huge number of his novels, being set deep in the Australian bush not in the English countryside as are the great majority of his better-known works. ‘Harry Heathcote of Gangoil’ is a brief novel, little over 100 pages, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in impact as this tousle between unneighbourly neighbours plays out. It packs in marvellous landscape description, social commentary, domestic life, struggles against the ever-present dangers of decimating bushfires (still pertinent today) and even fits in a swift romance. Its a masterly cameo of Australian life of the 1870s culminating in a Christmas crescendo.
The style has travelled remarkably well over the 150 odd years since it was written and the story itself proved not just eminently readable but quite an exciting page-turner. It’s a really fascinating insight into the early days of the colonisation of Australia, the brutality of the life, its emerging interactions between various vying factions – the squatters, free-selectors and ex-convicts.
Naturally for a’ Christmas story’ (so hugely popular in the era) it does end on an upbeat note. Trollope however was no fan of the genre and only reluctantly gave in and wrote them under pressure of market forces. However, ‘Gangoil’ manages to deftly evade the heavy handed virtuous seasonal moralising which Christmas tales of those times were all too fond of – offerings like the saccharine if classic ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. To me on the basis of this short work it’s a real shame that Trollope doesn’t seem as popular as Dickens still is today. He certainly deserves to be. I am avid to read more ...
The style has travelled remarkably well over the 150 odd years since it was written and the story itself proved not just eminently readable but quite an exciting page-turner. It’s a really fascinating insight into the early days of the colonisation of Australia, the brutality of the life, its emerging interactions between various vying factions – the squatters, free-selectors and ex-convicts.
Naturally for a’ Christmas story’ (so hugely popular in the era) it does end on an upbeat note. Trollope however was no fan of the genre and only reluctantly gave in and wrote them under pressure of market forces. However, ‘Gangoil’ manages to deftly evade the heavy handed virtuous seasonal moralising which Christmas tales of those times were all too fond of – offerings like the saccharine if classic ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. To me on the basis of this short work it’s a real shame that Trollope doesn’t seem as popular as Dickens still is today. He certainly deserves to be. I am avid to read more ...
April 7, 2018
This is probably almost never read by people who are not already familiar with Trollope's novels. As such, it is relatively slight and a bit unusual for Trollope as the setting is the outback of Australia, takes in the curious local politics of squatters and free selectors, and the romance takes second billing to the action--Trollope has to have at least one marriage with every happy ending it seems; sometimes even alluding to the notion.
Personally, I found the book to be a fun, quick read and I particularly enjoyed the development of Heathcote and Medlicot's relationship.
Personally, I found the book to be a fun, quick read and I particularly enjoyed the development of Heathcote and Medlicot's relationship.
May 22, 2020
A short tale, for sure, but fun to read, with a few easy lessons. Not only do I collect a bit of the flair and circumstance of old world back-in-the-bush Australia, but I get reminded not to judge those I hardly know. The young lord seems to dislike and mistrust every one of his neighbors and half of those who work for him equally. And as the story plays out, he is justified in some and completely wrong in others. And reading the book, I find that I begin to mistrust one of the characters who is one that is trustful.... same ol story - can't judge a book by it's cover.
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