Quotes and annotations mostly.
Chapter 1: The Hospital
Introduction of the family and birth of David on the narrator, Sally’s, birthday. Written in 1st person narrative voice. Child’s perspective gives a sense of innocence and completely truthful retelling which the responder trusts for the entire novel.
“I was...in an alien environment” foreshadows her isolation from society.
“There was no magic in The Doors.” Sally’s spirituality manifests itself as a belief in the world of magic.
“Nan called it here special bird, nobody heard it but her. This morning, I was going to hear it, too.” Nan is introduced as a wise matriarch who is deeply spiritual and has a strong sense of connection to the natural world. She passes her values on to her granddaughter.
Chapter 2: The Factory
Sally starts school and also describes her relationship with her father.
“it was a place dedicated to taking the spirit out of life” Sally’s view of school is bleak.
“Reading opened up new horizons for me, but it also created a hunger that school couldn’t satisfy.” Her learning gives her new chances, but the school’s rigidity in its reading program hinders her curiousity, leading to her “active dislike of school. I was bored and lonely.”
“It hadn’t occured to me you were meant to draw them with clothes on.” Sally retains a strong sense of her Aboriginality in instinctive actions.
“When Dad was happy, I wished he’d never change...but there was always the war...it would intrude and overwhelm us.” Sally yearns for a complete and happy family, a symbolic parallel to Glad’s dreams.
Chapter 3: I’m In The Army Now
Jill starts school, the title is a comment on her teacher, Miss Roberts who was in the women’s army and made her class line up and stand “straight and stiff”.
“I watched with a mixture of envy and surprise...she seemed to fit in.” Sally wants to belong, but she sees her classmates as “strangers”.
“I felt different from the other children in my class. They were the spick-and-span brigade, and I, the grubby offender.” Sally feels isolated, but has no explanation. Hints at future isolation and her seeking of identity. Grubby was often attached to the Aboriginal way of life as viewed through a white perspective.
Chapter 4: Drinking Men
Discusses her Dad, his family and friends, especially Frank Potter.
“we seemed surrounded by drinking men...I developed a keen interest in drinking and smoking at a young age” Sally’s exposure to alcohol, and her awareness of the escape it provided for “Old Soldiers” who used it to “become on of the boys”.
The introduction of alcohol has also helped to destroy the traditional Aborigine tribal structure and culture, similar to cigarettes “Nigger Twist”.
“Fortunate, it wasn’t long before the taste of beer sickened me...I decided that that was one tradition I wasn’t going to maintain.” This shows Sally’s valuing of traditions, but is also a strong character capable of maintaining her independence. The mention of traditions foreshadows her curiousity about her own heritage.
“My ears instantly pricked up. What dreadful language?” Sally’s rebellious character.
“You can kill yourself if you want to, but you’re not going to bloody kill the rest of us!” This foreshadows Dad’s increasingly dangerous nature.
Chapter 5: Pretending
Helen is born, Billy starts school, Sally pretends to be ill to miss school, and others accuse them of pretending to be Australian. Mention of Dad is excluded, dealing only with the Aboriginal members of the family.
“All my lessons seemed unrelated to real life.” Sally’s interest lies in reality and practical knowledge, something school couldn’t provide.
“I considered them disadvantaged. I couldn’t explain the happy feeling of warm security I felt when we all snuggled in together.” The difference in lifestyles, especially from their poorer financial situation. The physical closeness reinforces her comfort in her family, because she belongs here “We felt our family was the most important thing.”
“Tell them you’re Indian.” Glad and Daisy’s avoidance of truth, denial and shame of their own heritage stems from a fear of their children being taken away.
“they just didn’t want us pretending we were Aussies when we weren’t” show the prevailing racist attitudes, that only whites could be Aussies. This is a further isolation of Sally through racial differences.
“It was good to finally have an answer.” Sally considers her background very important and gains a sense of security from it, hinting at her determination to find the truth later.
Chapter 6: Only A Dream
Discussion of Dad and his deteriorating condition. “When Dad got really bad...our only way out was a midnight flit to Aunty Grace’s house.” The family seeks escape from Dad and his war within himself.
“We both understood it was a bribe...I knew that he knew it was wrong.” Sally’s strong sense of morality and her feeling of helplessness in dreams of a family.
Chapter 7: A Change
Dad comes to an understanding of himself, finding peace before his death. Sally’s obsession with drawing and a visit from Arthur.
“I was shocked to see my feelings glaring up at me from the page.” Sally’s drawings, which were unconsciously Aboriginal and highly valued part of their culture, provided a way of expressing herself, reflecting on the turmoil within her family.
“the image of their smiling faces lodged deep in my memory...I wanted them to teach me Indian.” Sally’s discovery of more family members gives her joy, and her desire to learn more of her heritage is evident.
“Dad was like a boomerang.” Use of Aboriginal symbol hints at an instinctive identification.
Chapter 8: Family and Friends
Showing the unbreakable bonds of family and the value of true friends. Dad’s family dismisses them because of their Aboriginal blood “It was the other half they worried about”
“I felt very strongly about families sticking together...I was frightened we would be put in an orphanage” hints at their family history of forced separataion.
“Frank gave us more than just a helping hand”
“Mum had an old friend, Lois, who helped out financially”
“The other saviour of our family at this time was Legacy...Mr Willie”
Friends who help each other when in need are rare.
Nan is “very bitter” at “Alice Drake-Brockman in Sydney” and her refusal to pay Nan owed wages, hinting at their family history.
Chapter 9: Wildlife
Explores the character’s connection and feelings about the natural world, a strong part of their Aboriginal heritage.
“any stray creature found a home with us...Nan influenced us greatly when it came to our attitudes to the wildlife around us.” Caring and harmonious attitudes, Nan’s retaining and teaching of old values.
“Our lives revolved around her, now, she kept the home fires burning.” Strong sense of home, its importance as a symbol of unity for the family and a reinforcement of the family’s love for Nan.
“The swamp behind our place had become an important place for me. It was now a part of me, part of what I was as a person.” Reinforces the importance of symbols to Sally’s sense of identity and her connection to the natural world.
Chapter 10: Cure-Alls
Sally’s physical sickness, Nan and Mum’s general interest in health and Mum’s religious beliefs.
“you just don’t care what other people think...It was years before I learnt what compromise meant.” Sally’s independence leads to conflict with Jill’s more agreeable personality. Sally is also single-mindedly focused on her own aims, so her determination to know her family history is not surprising.
“You’ll be all right, I won’t let anything happen to you.” Nan uses her healing powers quietly, showing that the family’s spirituality is strong, although unknown. Sally’s physical illness is an example of the destruction of a race through contact with foreign diseases, and could also be symbolic of her dissatisfaction with her lack of knowledge of her heritage and her struggle for her own identity.
“I learnt a valuable lesson from being that sick, I learnt I was strong inside. I had to be to survive.” The family has strong characters because they have struggled to survive.
Chapter 11: Getting Ahead
Mum’s multiple jobs generate more income and allowed for a more relaxed family, and the chapter retells the valued time spent with her family.
“I know what it’s like to be hungry, it’s a terrible thing.” A hint at Nan’s struggles in her past.
“An open fire was always at the centre of our family gatherings...We felt very secure in front of an open fire.” The open fire is symbolic of the gathering of a tribal family, linking them with their Aboriginal heritage.
Chapter 12: Triumphs And Failures
Sally’s last year at primary school in Grade Seven.
“I knew fairy tales were the stuff dreams were made of. And I loved dreams.”
“whenever we brought our friends home to play after school, Nan would disappear.”
“You got no shame. We don’t want them seeing how we live.” Nan’s embarassment about their conditions and her worry of what others may think, show her continuous desire to fit into white society and the feelings of shame about her Aboriginality.
Chapter 13: Growing Up
Sally’s experience with a child molester, her instinctive knowledge, self-consciousness and the realisation of things beyond her family.
“Uncle wasn’t so nice. I disliked him on sight...tried to put his hand down my pants.”
“I was frightened for her, yet I couldn’t explain what I was frightened of.” Sally’s instincts are remarkably accurate, symbolic of her inner spiritual balance. Her inability to specify the fear shows the innocence of a child and lack of knowledge. This event also shows that relatives can also threaten their family existence.
“Now, it was my turn to look out for her.” Strong sense of family importance and caring for each other.
“I was becoming more and more aware that I was different to the other kids at school.” The foreshadowing of her Aboriginal identity builds up to her discovery through her noticing of differences.
“Part of the reason why I hated school was the regimentation. I hated routine. I wanted to do something exciting and different all the time...Being away from school gave me time to think and relieved the pressure...I was starting to become an expert in ways to miss school.”
“We expect of the Milroys, but not of girls of your calibre.” Robin’s father is representative of the general society’s view that Aborigines are inferior.
Chapter 14: Rather Peculiar Pets
“Mum seemed to like owning peculiar things...Curly was a rare sight.”
Mr Willie leaves “we felt abandoned. He’d called us his second family.” Strong belief that families don’t abandon each other.
Chapter 15: A Black Grandmother
Sally finally realises Nan is black and immediately wants to know their true family history. She also passes her Junior.
“I always believed that drawing was my only talent, now I knew I was no good at that, either.” Sally’s art teacher has no appreciation of her form of art, which is hinted at to be Aboriginal, showing the lack of understanding between the whites and Aborigines. The teacher’s negative ridiculing destroys what would have been valued in an Aboriginal society.
“You bloody kids don’t want me, you want a bloody white grandmother, I’m black...For the first time in my fifteen years, I was conscious of Nan’s colouring...if she wasn’t white, then neither were we. What did that make us, what did that make me?”
Nan has been taught to feel shame of her own heritage, and she cannot accept her grandchildren’s love. Sally’s sudden realisation shows that she has no concept or racial difference, only her need to know her family history.
“There was a great deal social stigma attached to being Aboriginal at our school...Can you tell me one good thing about being an Abo?” The attitudes of the society, and Jill’s need to fit into her society and with her peers, leading to her rejection of her past.
“To my surprise, I discovered Nan had a real short fuse when it came to talking about the past...I keep pestering them because I want to know the truth.” Sally’s single-mindedness for truth ignores the bitterness and pain which accompanies memories the past.
“I knew nothing about Aboriginal people. I was clutching at straws.” The continuation of the denial of culture because of forced separation and the fear to recognise their own heritage.
“I passed every subject...I guess it was my pride again.” Sally’s poor attendance is because of lack of interest, not intelligence.
Chapter 16: What People Are We?
“With a sudden dreadful insight, I knew it was God...A person, overwhelming love, acceptance and humour...In an instant, I became...a believer.” Sally’s spirituality is also strong, but her view of God is more personal than the rigid, institutionalised religion presented by the churches.
“it was difficult to change the pattern that had been set in motion so many years before” Although this refers to Sally’s boredom at youth meetings, it shows the conservative nature of all people, foreshadowing later difficulties that she will face in discovering her past because of the pattern of fear and suppression.
“We’re like those Jews, we got to look out for ourselves...In this world, there’s no justice, people like us’d all be dead and gone now if it was up to this country.” Nan uses a comparison of the genocide and her bitterness toward the government that had destroyed families.
“if Nan was Aboriginal, why didn’t she just say so?” Sally’s ignorance of the past and the feelings of shame that had been impressed upon the Aborigines because of their ancestry.
Chapter 17: Make Something Of Yourself
Sally’s feelings as she tries to study for her Leaving and passes.
“The feeling that a very vital part of me was missing and that I’d never belong anywhere. Never resolve anything.” To Sally, her history is an essential part of her personal identity and sense of belonging to a people is a strong part of Aboriginal heritage.
“Why did she want to be white...there must have been times in her life when she’d looked around and the evidence was right before her eyes. If you’re white, you can do anything.” Nan is still striving to impress whites and judging herself by their standards. Overlying this is a feeling of fear of failure and rejection.
“I seemed to have natural affirmity with them...I had a special insight into the Aboriginal girls.” Sally identifies and shares the feelings with other Aborigines, showing the strong sense of connection between people.
“I wondered what was wrong with her...she was a very dark Aboriginal girl...I wondered who her people were and why they needed help.” Others viewed this girl with inferiority despite her friendly personality, and Sally’s ignorance of her nationality and her people represents her lack of knowledge about the plight of Aborigines.
Chapter 18: The Working Life
Sally’s experiences in working and her decision to enrol at University for psychology.
“It was an important experience for me, because it taught me something about myself that I had been unaware of. I wasn’t going to be satisfied with just anything. And I wasn’t lazy.” Sally’s hardworking and demanding personality is paralleled in her family’s struggles in their lives.
Chapter 19: Home Improvements
“Not that I wanted our lifestyle to change, rather, I was hoping that Mum might be persuaded to spend a bit of money and install some modern conveniences.” Family’s conservative nature.
Chapter 20: A New Career
“I came to the realisation that it was impossible to change my environment. I decided to try and change myself instead...I just switched off and pretended I was the only one in the house.” Sally’s technique for studying, by changing her way of thinking, she could ignore the noise around her and study without paying any attention to distractions.
“I came here to learn about people.” Sally’s interest in psychology is linked with her interest in people and community, which is a strong part of Aboriginal culture.
“Nan never disappeared when Paul or Bruce were around...By the end of the second term...we’d fallen in love and decided to get married.”
Chapter 21: Owning Up
“If Paul doesn’t ever do the right thing by you, you just let me know. I’ll fix things up.” Bill’s offer shows the sense of protection and caring that the whole family feels for each other.
“I felt very lucky. I had a wonderful family.” Sally recognises this and is appreciative.
“You kids don’t need me any more...you’re all grown up now!” Nan feels her grandchildren are very important, and she feels personally insecure without the acknowledgement of love.
“ ‘We’re Aboriginal, aren’t we, Mum?’
‘Yes, dear,’ she replied, without thinking.
...It was as if a wall that had been between us suddenly crumbled away. I felt closer to Mum then than I had for years.”
The importance of acknowledging their family heritage and its ability to draw together family members.
Chapter 22: A New Beginning
“the way I look at it, it’s a beginning. Before, we had nothing. At least now, we’ve got a beginning.”
“I desperately wanted to do something to identify with my new-found heritage.” Sally feels the need for reassurance and a symbolic representation and affirmation of her heritage.
“Slowly, over that year, Mum and I began to notice a change in Nan...she began to take an interest in news about black people...She identified with them. In a sense, they were her people, because they shared the common bond of blackness and the oppression...It was only a small change, but it was a beginning.” Slowly, Nan’s fear is dissipating.
“we’d both thought Australia was the least racist country in the world, now we knew better...How had white Australians reacted to my grandmother in the past, was that the cause of her bitterness?”
“If I denied my tentative identification with the past now, I’d be denying her as well.” The past needed to be remembered, otherwise the sufferings of their ancestors and their struggles would have been unrecognised and for nothing.
“I knew now there would be other times.” The flow of information about the past had finally began, and it would not be stopped, so that people would eventually tell their own stories.
“ ‘Who was it Nan? What rotten bugger called you that?’...I wished I could wipe memories like that from her mind...It was times like that I realised just how much I loved her.” Sally sense of morality leads to her anger at the injustice, and her sympathy towards Nan stemming from love and family.
Chapter 23: A Visitor
“I continued to prompt Nan about the past...she became so consistently cantankerous that she gradually drove us all away.” Nan’s pain in memories of the past and her refusal to talk leads to a loss of her family’s support and further pain.
“a change was beginning to take place in our family. Nan’s brother, Arthur, began making regular visits”
“I’m proud of bein’ a blackfella...she’s bin with whitefellas too long. They make her feel ‘shamed.” The assimilation policy was aimed at replacing traditional tribal structures and cultures with a European lifestyle, and saw the Aborigines as the inferior race, something which they were educated with and made to feel ashamed of.
“She could have easily forgotten it, a language needs to be used to be remembered. It must mean it was important to her. She might turn into a proud blackfella yet.” Nan’s strong sense of spirituality and her Aboriginality is not completely lost. Though publically suppressed, she still values it.
“It would be a long time before I would learn to be content with the little she was willing to give.” Sally is unable to understand the wall of silence that Nan has used to hide her pain and survive.
Chapter 24: Where There’s A Will
“I’m going to write a book.” Sally’s determination to provide a record of their family’s history.
“Just a blank. That’s awful, like nobody owns me.” Mum’s sense of abandonment is part of the importance of knowing their history, where they’re from.
“Are you gunna take the word of white people against your own flesh and blood?...No white man wants to have black kids runnin’ round the place with his name.” Their family history had two stories, because the truth may have been distorted to protect illegal relationships, which often happened with other families.
“There’s some things Daisy’s got to tell herself, or not at all.” Part of telling would be come to terms with their own past and what they did, and face the pain of loss, and so could not be told by others.
Chapter 25: Part Of Our History
“It was a small victory, but an important one...the fact that Nan had finally found it possible to trust her family with a piece of information that was important to her.” Nan had to extend her trust to others, because she had developed shields to protect herself and could not accept the love of others.
“there’s almost nothing written from a personal point of view about Aboriginal people...No one knows what it’s been like for us. A lot of our history has been lost.” The purpose of the book, to provide a record for the future generations.
“It’s better your own flesh and blood writes something like that” oral family tradition
“he can see something we can’t. A glimpse of heaven, maybe...He’s still the same old Arthur, but changed somehow...My own home, my land...I knew he wanted to die on his own land.” Arthur is content with his life and ready to die, and the “glow” of his face is mirrored by other characters, showing their spirituality. The importance of his land is linked to the Aboriginal value of their land, as it is a representation of their spiritual connection with the earth.
Chapter 26: Links With The Past
“They couldn’t stand the tedium of the same job.” Mirrored in Sally’s inability to concentrate with routine, her study and jobs.
“She went to Parkerville...She never looked back. You see, she was so well brought up by those Church of England sisters.” Alice’s biased viewpoint and her ignorance of the pain from a torn family.
“She must have felt terribly out of place.” Nan’s suffering, mirrored by Sally’s isolation.
“He’d told me so much about himself and his life, and, in doing so, he’d told me something about my own heritage.” Knowing the story of her relations allowed further personal identity.
Arthur Corunna’s Story
“The land of my people was all round there...from one station to another, visiting people that belonged to us.” There is an emphasis on people and originating land.
“For centuries, the men in my family have been boolyah men...It wasn’t until years later that I began to learn just what powers he had given me.” Strong spirituality passing on their family powers.
“I belonged to the snake, and I was anxious to see the pretty snake’s eggs, but they took me to the mission...If I had’ve stayed there, I would have gone through the Law, then I would’ve known.” Use of Aboriginal symbols and beliefs show Arthur’s closer connection to his heritage, and his forceful removal destroyed his chances of finding his own personal identity in Aboriginal terms.
“I wasn’t allowed to talk blackfella after that...I liked my language...I had to talk English.” Destruction of culture through enforcement of white culture.
“the blackfellas want their own land, with no white man messin’ about destroyin’ it.” Aborigines have a balance with their natural world, that white culture destroyed by destroying the natural environment.
“All the people round there, we all belonged to each other. We were the tribe that made the station.”
“He beat me harder and harder, my thighs were running with blood and I still wouldn’t cry for him...I can still show you the scars from that beating.” Boys placed in missions were often mistreated, often because of racial hatred.
“They were all jealous of me, a black man, doing better than they were.” Arthur’s success encouraged the farmers’ resentments because he was considered inferior.
“You got to be a blackfella to know what the pressure is from the government...They never treated blackfellas right during the war...Neville...wasn’t protectin’ the Aborigines, he was destroyin’ them!...Our own country and we not free.”
The poor treatment of Aborigines stemmed from racist attitudes of white superiority, and the inability to understand and appreciate their culture. The Aboriginal struggle for a control over their lives resulted in their suppression and strict policies that restricted their freedom.
“I wish I could give advice for the young blackfellas of today, but I can’t. Each man has to find his own way.” The struggle is also independent, as they must come to terms with themselves and their own identity and heritage.
“the trouble is that colonialism isn’t over yet...There’s so much the whitefellas don’t understand...they don’t understand the way we want to live.”
“I’m proud of my whole family...we special, I got healing powers, but Daisy’s got them stronger than me. You see, it runs in our family. The spirit is strong in our family.”
This is also shown in Sally’s early unconscious spirituality, and the emphasis on family suggests that the powers exist only while the family is bounded together.
“Arthur Corunna’s story!...it’s important, because then maybe they’ll understand how hard it’s been for the blackfella to live the way he wants.” Purpose of telling his story.
Chapter 27: Where To Next?
“at last we had something from the past to hang on to”
They decide to go to Corunna to find out more.
Chapter 28: Return To Corunna
They go to Corunna and discover a whole network of relatives and their people.
“You don’t know what it means, no one comes back. You don’t know what it means that you, with light skin, want to own us...I wanted desperately to tell her how much it meant to us that they would own us.”
“She didn’t want me to come. She just doesn’t want to be Aboriginal.” Nan is still denying her own heritage.
“we had a sense of place, now...I belong here. It’s good to be with my people.”
“How deprived we would have been if we had been willing to let things stay as they were. We would have survived, but not as whole people. We would never have known our place.” Dedication. Emphasises the importance of belonging, knowing their family history, to give them a sense of people and place.
“We were different people now...We had an Aboriginal consciousness now, and were proud of it.”
“We had more insight into her bitterness. And more than anything, we wanted her to change, to be proud of what she was...We belonged, now. We wanted her to belong, too.”
Chapter 29: Someone Like Me
“There’d been a slight change, a softening, but she was still unwilling to share the personal details of her life with us.” Nan’s slow change and her starting to understand herself.
“All those wonderful people up North, they all claimed me. Well that’s all I want...I don’t want to belong to anyone else.” Mum gives up the search for her father because “they never bothered with me”, and she is happy with knowing the people that have claimed each other as family.
Gladys Corunna’s Story
“even though we weren’t related, there were strong ties between us black kids.” The sense of belonging between blacks is evident through all the experiences of the characters.
“the thing that helped me most was the music I used to hear at night...it was Aboriginal music...It was that same feeling of protection.”
“Most of my happiest times were spent alone in the bush, watching the birds and animals.” Connection with natural world and peace gained from it.
“My Uncle Arthur visited...if he and Mum could live together, then I’d have a family.” The yearning for a family continued through the next generations, showing the destructive effects of forced separation.
“I had a large scar on my chest...It wasn’t until I was older that I realised it was an initiation scar. My mother had given it to me for protection.” Daisy’s belief in spirituality is strong, and her love for Glad is evident in the wanting to protect her. Glad’s ignorance shows the loss of knowledge of their own culture because of removal.
“I think one of the reasons I survived was because I learnt to lie so well.”
“The Home also taught us never to talk openly about being Aboriginal. It was something we were made to feel ashamed of...I wondered what was wrong with being Aboriginal”
“Even though we had all loved each other as children, something had changed...They treated Mum like a servant” the family of Drake-Brockman, despite Daisy’s faithful service, never saw her as more than a black servant.
“It was good for them to learn about nature and how important it is to our lives.” Glad also values traditional Aboriginal values, subtly passing it to her children.
“I never told Mum about my vision...I was a changed person after that. I knew I had the strength to face anything.”
“Mum and I decided we would definitely never tell the children they were Aboriginal...she didn’t want the children growing up with people looking down on the...Aboriginals were treated the lowest of the low.” However, their spirituality is too strong to be completely lost, leading to their discovery of their identity.
“I feel embarassed now, to think that, once, I wanted to be white...I’ve changed since those days.” The discovery of people who have accepted her and her new sense of belonging has given her pride in her heritage, despite her early education to feel shame.
Chapter 30: Something Serious
Nan is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and she thinks deeply about her own personal past.
“I want to tell you more about the station.”
“I’d seen that look before, on Arthur’s face. I knew she was going to die.”
“strange men comin’ in one after the other, all thumping me around the chest...They was only doin’ that cause I’m black!” Racist attitudes were still present, and Nan’s treatment at the hospital clearly shows this.
Chapter 31: Good News
Nan overcomes her own barriers and decides to share some of her past, because it would mean a lot to her granddaughter, and also because it would have given herself a sense of accomplishment.
“Maybe I will tell you some things...I don’t want to tell you everything...I got secrets.”
Daisy Corunna’s Story
“that’s the trouble with us blackfellas, we don’t know who we belong to, no one’ll own up...I needed my people, they made me feel important. I belonged to them.” Part of Aboriginal identity is to belong to a group of people and be owned and valued by them.
“People looked at you funny ‘cause you were black...I wanted to be white, you see...What was wrong with my own people?” Nan has since changed her desire to be white, becoming personally proud of her heritage and her people.
“Right inside my heart, I felt bitter.” Feelings that came from years of mistreatment.
“I helped your mother with that polio. You see, our family’s always had powers that way...Some things I’m tellin’ you ‘cause I won’t be here much longer. That’s something you should know...you both got a feel for the spiritual side of things...Our people was strong in the spirit.” Family heritage.
“we was listenin’ to music...we was hearin’ the people from long ago. Our people who used to live here before the white man came...I think now they was protectin’ us.” The connections and protectiveness extend beyond the immediate family to all Aborigines.
“When Gladdie wasn’t around, Bill used to call me a bloody nigger...No one should call anyone a bloody nigger...it hurt me real bad to hear him say that.” Nan’s feelings of fear and bitterness are a result of whites degrading her.
“I’m wonderin’ if they’ll give the blackfellas land...The government and the white man must own up to their mistakes...I’m hopin’ things will change one day...I like to think the black man will get treated same as the white man one day.” Nan’s dreams for the future, and the change in her thinking that has allowed her to voice her dreams of equality openly.
Chapter 32: The Bird Call
“I was happy for her because she felt she’d achieved something...But I was sad...for all the things Nan felt she couldn’t share.”
“With her gone, we could pass for anything...We wouldn’t want to, now. It’s too important. It’d be like she never existed. Like her life meant nothing, not even to her own family.” The stories of their family is important because it gives their lives meaning and a valued contribution to the future.
“It was a promise. A promise from our spirits to hers. We would never forget.”
“We all knew something more than Nan’s body was dying. She was a symbol. Part of us was going, too.”
“It was Ruth, more than anyone, who understood Nan’s fear of going before she was ready...I felt it was a victory that Nan could accept the love that Ruth offered.”
“it was the Aboriginal bird, Sally. God sent him to me to tell me I’m going home soon. Home to my own land and my own people.” The importance of their land and people is again emphasised, as their home.
