Each moiety is further separated into sub-divisions or groups, which are distinguished by a symbol related to a family-crest. The symbol is representative of a natural object, such as animal, bird, or plant, between which and the individual a mysterious relationship is believed to endure. This peculiar belief was first reported to exist among the Australian aborigines by Sir George Grey in 1841, who ascertained that the general name of the mysterious symbol with which an individual identifies himself, was “kobong.” Of later years the word has been replaced in works on Australian anthropology by “totem.” No doubt “Kobongism” and “Totemism” are closely allied conceptions of crude religious significance; but at the same time the “totem” belongs originally to the American Indian, and it is still an open question whether the imported word completely and adequately embraces all fundamental conceptions of the “kobong.”
Among the central tribes the mystical relationship between the present individual and the object (animal or plant) is believed to come through sacred semi-human ancestors which were common to both; the relationship has been handed down from one generation to another. See further, [Chapter XXVII].
Each divisional group has a number of such “kobongs” or “totems,” which practically control their marriage-systems. Descent in a family is always reckoned from the mother’s side, at any rate so far as the majority of tribes is concerned. To take a simple example: A tribe is composed, say, entirely of families named Jones and Smith. A Smith is only allowed to marry a Jones, and a Jones a Smith. But, in addition, each individual member of the two groups of families named has a separate crest or symbol, such as, for instance, the cat, the dog, the fowl, the rose. A further restriction is that no two members of the same crest are allowed to join in matrimony, so that no Cat-Jones can marry a Cat-Smith, nor a Dog-Smith a Dog-Jones, because they are “related.” But a Cat-Jones may marry a Dog-, a Fowl-, or a Rose-Smith, and vice versa, without breaking the law. We will find that there are twelve different combinations possible between the Jones and Smiths of the four crests specified. If there be an issue of the marriage, we have heard that the descent always follows the mother’s side, both as regards family and crest. Consequently, if a Mr. Cat-Jones marries a Miss Dog-Smith, the child will be a Dog-Smith; but should the Dog-Smith children again marry into the Cat-Jones’ family-group, the offspring becomes a Cat-Jones if the child be a boy, but remains a Dog-Smith if a girl.
The north-west central tribes split up each moiety into two sub-divisions, between which marriages can take place, but the progeny always goes to the division different from that of its parents. Let us represent the two pairs of subdivision by A and B, and C and D respectively. A man of the A group is only allowed to marry a woman of the B group, and a B-man only an A-woman. The child resulting from the former union becomes a member of neither of its parents’ groups, but passes over to C, and when one from the latter, that is, when the father is a B-man, becomes a D-member. On the other side, when a C-man marries a D-woman, the issue returns to the A line, and when a D-man marries a C-woman, it goes back to the B. If, for instance, we replace the letters A, B, C, and D by the words “Pultara,” “Kumara,” “Panunga,” and “Purula,” in the order specified, we have the general principle of the Arunndta marriage system.
Among the Minning, the four subdivisions are called “Tjurrega,” “Menuaitja,” “Kakera,” and “Ngadeja.” Let us take a simple illustration. A Tjurrega man marries a Menuaitja woman. A male child is born, which becomes a Kakera. When he grows up, this Kakera man must marry a Ngadeja woman. The progeny of the last-named union goes back to the Tjurrega, and, assuming it to be a female, she will have to marry a Menuaitja, and her child becomes a Ngadeja.
A few tribes of central and north-eastern Australia further divide each sub-class into two, making eight in all, but fundamentally the rules governing inter-marriage are much the same as those just mentioned.
It must not be imagined for one moment that the above simple outline represents the complete, and, in reality, very complicated, system upon which the aborigines work. There are numerous others restrictions, which are more or less variable according to the locality of any particular tribe. In its broadest outline, the scheme is much the same all over Australia, and it is possible therefore for tribes living on a friendly footing with each other to inter-marry and yet to strictly adhere to the fundamental principles controlling their respective laws. On the other hand, it will be realized how easily any white man, who is in the habit of having indiscriminate intercourse with native women, can make himself guilty of a criminal offence, when he cohabits first with a woman of one group and then with one of another. This applies, of course, only to the uncorrupted tribes, who still adhere strictly to their ancestral practices and beliefs.
Occasionally one finds a further splitting up of the intermarrying divisions, whilst some of the south-eastern tribes appear to have been without any hard and fast system at all. Here and there, too, the descent runs in the male line.
A child is generally allotted to its husband early in infancy, but actual possession is not taken until the girl is of a marriageable age, that is, when she is about twelve years old. In the interim, however, the future husband has certain claims on the child, and can supervise her domestication and instruction. He, on the other hand, is required to make presentations to the child’s father and other relatives on the father’s side; at this stage, too, he may promise his sister (if she be available) to his future wife’s brother.
The relationship between man and girl is not a love-affair, in the modern sense of the word, but the whole transaction is regarded more like a pure business-matter. The sexual element plays perhaps the least important role, the man looking upon the budding woman as his future associate, helpmate and servant, and also as a valuable asset to his existence wherewith he might be able to barter. Most of his notions in connection with barter are potential, and possibly will never be carried out; in a sense a man’s wealth is gauged by the number of women he possesses, the younger they are the more valuable. As a lord of the wilds, it is, indeed, a fortunate position for any man to be in to own a number of wives; having himself, as a hunter, to travel unaccoutred, the women become the machinery of his transport. When in camp, they collect and prepare food for him, while he is resting or roaming the woods after game. Moreover, the women assist in the cosmetics of his person, and are the means of the education of his children in all matters, except those pertaining to the chase, warfare, and certain ceremonies taboo to women.