Again, the sense of community is expressed when we find Darryl's concern for others outweigh his concern for himself and he disappears to check on his elderly neighbour Jack. The strength of the bond is made blatant later when Darryl offers to pay for Jack's share in legal expenses and furthermore to take him in, in the event that they should have to move. Through this, we see that Coolaroo is a very close knit community where everyone knows each other. This is given emphasis in the later gate stealing incident, where we find that Sergeant Mick knows Darryl and breathes warning to him about his actions instead of charging him and even suggesting he "put them round the back". .
We find that people in such a community, tend to stick together and stick to the people they know such as Dennis Denuto. Dennis is a small time conveyancing lawyer who knows little about litigation and is clueless in the realm of Constitutional Law. Despite this, Darryl seeks his help in his dilemma, constantly bringing light to his previous battle with Wayne (the oldest of the Kerrigan sons) and supposedly winning in getting "only" fifteen years and of course "trying his best".
Family values are clearly manifested throughout the story. First, early in Dale's narration where he states that "Dad's the backbone in this family. And if Dad's the backbone, then Mum's all the other bones". As the story unfolds, we see the importance of Darryl's role as the head of this close knit family of honest battlers and maintaining principle in the household (such as, the rule for the television to be turned down whilst eating). He is found to be a simple optimist and philosopher who is constantly full of praise and makes everyone in the family feel important and worthwhile. .
Along the way the Kerrigans visit their favourite holiday spot "Bonnie Doon", which turns out to be a stark landscape with a lake in the middle with high voltage power lines running across it.
