Land In Crow Country

Words: 702
Pages: 3

Crow Country - Land

In the 2011 novel Crow Country, set in country Victoria, Kate Constable explores the topic of land and the ownership of it. Constable writes about the Mortlock family, who have owned the town of Boort for 150 years and how they think they own the land and no one else has control over it. She also writes about how the Aborigines looked after the land and have lived there for 40,000 years, but they fled when the white people came. The Aborigines know that the land does not only belong to the white people but everyone, they think that no one has ownership over it. Kate also uses the Crow as the watcher over the land. Crow remembers old stories and uses Sadie to learn and remember them.

In the novel Crow Country there is
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Even though “new marks had overwritten the oldest signs”, and “new stories were scratched across the land”, Crow was still there to watch over. “The Crow could read the old signs, the old stories. They might be hidden, but they had not vanished.”Crow has watched from when the Aborigines were looking after the land till now with the Mortlocks ‘owning’ the land. Crow has watched the the buildings being built, the roads being created and the people being born. Crow had work for Sadie to do, he needed Sadie to keep the knowledge of history in the town, to help Crow look over the land. Crow says, “‘this is a story place, a secret place, Where are the dreams when the dreamers are gone.” Crow is the eyes of the country and the god of the town.

The novel Crow Country shows the topic of land and the ownership of it. Kate Constable explains how the Mortlock family has owned the town for 150 years and they think that it’s their land and no one else can control it. She also explains how the Aborigines have looked after and lived there for 40,000 years and most interestingly how the Crow looks over the land. The main point is that Australia is a complicated place and the idea of land here is not black and