Crow Country

by

Kate Constable

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Crow Country: Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Ellie is worried about Sadie, who has been a bit out of sorts the past week at school and at home. Meanwhile, Sadie keeps thinking of the crow’s words: “When the Law is broken there must be punishment!” She keeps dreaming that she is looking for something and running. At school, she’s been noticing crows following her everywhere. Still, Sadie tells her mother that she wants to go to the school’s art show that night. David and Walter will be there, as Walter has a piece in the show. Ellie tells her that David helped coach the boys’ footy practice last night.
Sadie is clearly haunted and troubled by the crow’s allusion to some terrible crime that has been committed. Her dream that she is looking for something also indicates that she feels a responsibility to discover how she is connected to these violent events and how she can help create justice. The crows that follow her in school also represent a constant reminder that Sadie has a task that she can’t avoid forever. 
Themes
Heritage and Land Theme Icon
Justice and Restitution Theme Icon
Violence and Integrity Theme Icon
At the art show, Ellie, Sadie, and David look at Walter’s painting. Ellie and Sadie are very impressed—the painting is of Auntie Lily, Walter’s relative. As she looks at the painting, Sadie notices a crow in it. When she asks David about it, he says it is Auntie Lily’s totem. Just then, they are interrupted by Craig Mortlock. He’s very happy with the way David coached the boys the previous night and tells David that maybe he will have a permanent position as coach, though David insists he only wants to give a hand to the team.
The crow in the painting of Auntie Lily suggests to Sadie that Walter, as well as Auntie Lily, may know something about the crows that she doesn’t. Furthermore, David’s revelation that the crow is Auntie Lily’s totem indicates that crows have a special sacred value or meaning to Aboriginals. While Sadie may have begun to guess this as a result of her encounter with the crows, Walter’s painting provides confirmation.
Themes
Heritage and Land Theme Icon
Sadie and Ellie end up in David and Walter’s kitchen for dinner. The conversation turns to the totems that Walter mentioned earlier, and Ellie asks him about them again. Walter says that some of what he is about to tell them is secret. But he assumes that they know about the Dreaming—the time, long ago, when ancestral spirits walked across the land and created it and its inhabitants. Walter says that in the area of Boort, “everything belongs to Bunjil the Eaglehawk or Waa the Crow.” David mentions that one of the creeks in the area used to be called Crow Creek, but now it is known as Cross Creek. He tells Sadie that “whitefellas” changed the name because they thought crows were unlucky. Ellie adds that there’s a church there now, and perhaps the name changed when the whites built a church there.
Walter’s speech about the Dreaming, and the ancestral spirits of Bunjil the Eaglehawk and Waa the Crow, harks back to a time long before the arrival of white settlers. His words further allude to the special significance of crows in Aboriginal culture. These birds are clearly representatives of the ancient ancestral spirit of Waa the Crow. The change in name of Crow Creek to Cross Creek points to the ways in which white settlers have attempted reconfigure and rename the ancient landscape that was inhabited long before their arrival. Notably, everyone takes it for granted that the white people have not faced any restitution for the injustice they perpetrated.
Themes
Prejudice and Discrimination Theme Icon
Heritage and Land Theme Icon
Justice and Restitution Theme Icon
Quotes
Walter says that his people have lived “in this country for forty thousand years, maybe more.” And they survived because they “knew how to live with the land, not fight it.” Walter adds that his people are still surviving, despite the arrival of the white men. David wonders whether Bunjil and Waa are still surviving, and Sadie cries out they are. Ellie and David laugh at her, but Walter only looks at her intently.
Walter’s statement that Aboriginals have been inhabiting the country for 40,000 years points to just how old the Aboriginal claim to the land is. It is a claim that predates white settlement by many millennia. In affirming that Bunjil and Waa are still surviving, Sadie indicates that she is beginning to realize—through her interaction with the crows—that the Aboriginal ancestral spirits are in fact still alive, even though white people generally deny their existence.
Themes
Prejudice and Discrimination Theme Icon
Heritage and Land Theme Icon
Justice and Restitution Theme Icon
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