32 MATHEWS— ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA. [March i 7 



SOCIOLOGY OF THE ABORIGINES OF WESTERN 

 AUSTRALIA. 



R. H. MATHEWS, L.S. 

 ( Read March jj, igoj. ) 



Five years ago I communicated an article to the Society, 1 deal- 

 ing with some of the customs of the natives of Western Australia. 

 On that occasion I described the organization of a number of tribes 

 possessing four divisions in their social structure. In the present 

 paper it is proposed to give a short explanation of a different 

 organization, found among some tribes occupying the northeastern 

 corner of Western Australia, comprising the country drained by the 

 sources of the Ord, Denham, King and other rivers, Stirling Creek, 

 Sturt Creek, Margaret River and the Upper Fitzroy. Some of the 

 best known of the aboriginal tribes within the immense geographic 

 limits mentioned, are the Lunga, Kityu, Charrau and Nining. 



All the details given in this article have been gathered by me 

 through the kind assistance of correspondents who reside in the 

 Kimberly district of Western Australia, in the region inhabited by 

 the tribes treated of. I sent them categorical lists of all the points 

 upon which I wanted information and gave them directions how to 

 proceed with the investigations. From the reliable character of 

 my correspondents, and my own general knowledge of the subject, 

 I feel sure that their work can be depended upon. It is unneces- 

 sary to add that I am under no obligations to any other authors. 



A whole tribe, or it may be a community of several tribes, is 

 nominally divided into two portions, which may be called phratries, 

 groups, or any other distinguishing title. Next there is a reparti- 

 tion of each phratry into four parts, which for purposes of refer- 

 ence, may be called sections or classes. A name is given to each 

 section, by means of which the members of the different divisions 

 are readily distinguished ; and identification is further facilitated 

 by a masculine and feminine form of every one of the eight 

 names. 



A phratry therefore contains four given sections of men, who 



'"Native Tribes of Western Australia," Proc. Amer. PHILOS. Soc, Vol. 

 XXXIX, pp. 123-125. 



