Karween belongs to the creation narrative of the Wa-woo-rong (Woiwurrung, Yarra) people printed by Brough Smyth. Bunjil (Bund-jel) had made no wife for himself and desired the two wives whom Karween guarded jealously; Bunjil stole both women in the night. Karween threw a spear and wounded Bunjil slightly, whereupon the angry Bunjil hurled his own spear and pierced the joint of Karween's thigh, so that he could never again walk soundly. Karween became as lean as a skeleton, and Bunjil made him into the crane, the bird thereafter called Kar-ween, while the two women became Bunjil's wives. The tale, an aetiology of the crane and of contests over marriage, was among the Victorian materials discussed in early comparative studies of Australian high gods.