While many Australians await the arrival of Santa Claus, kids in outback Australia are celebrating with their own unique Christmas icon.
It's a hot night before Christmas and an eerie figure is perched on a hilltop, gazing over Gija country.Soon, he'll be bringing presents to local children, but he ain't no Santa Claus.
Warmun community chairperson Vanessa Thomas says the crow character comes from the creation stories of Gija people."The old people taught us about the crow and the eagle, who lived up on the hill, but the crow was really lazy and never went hunting. They asked the Catholic Church to help them start a school where children could be taught both cultural values and the mainstream curriculum.Elder Eileen Bray says the result is a special blend of Gija and Christian culture in both classrooms and daily life.
A white troopie — the troop carrier four-wheel-drive favoured in these parts — tears across the oval and the kids begin to scream.
Crow Wangkarnal Aboriginal Indigenous Dreamtime Creation Story Language First Nations Cultuer Tradition Education School Remote Aboriginal Community Warmun
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