LXII PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



oi doubtful reliability, and the time lias now come for us to 

 attempt some sorting out of the accumulation of material gathered 

 together during the past century. 



There is, however, one special matter in comiexion with anthro- 

 pological research in Australia to which I wish to draw attention. 

 Nearly all such researches have been carried on by men ; in fact, 

 save in decadent tribes, the members of which have lost their 

 respect for, and to a large extent their knowledge of, old customs 

 and beliefs, it would be useless for a woman to attempt to pry 

 into sacred matters so far as the men are concerned. Any attempt 

 to do so would be keenly resented in uncontaminated tribes, and in 

 others the information thus derived would be of doubtful value. 

 How strong this sentiment is may be gauged from the fact that 

 I have seen a woman with her eye destroyed by a firestick simply 

 because she had quite innocently picked up a sacred bull-roarer 

 that had been accidentally dropped in the bush. It is quite true 

 that very old women are allowed to know a little, but, as far as 

 one can judge, only a very little, and they are quite as reticent 

 as the men. On the other hand, it is quite possible that the 

 women have their own secrets, or, at all events, a different outlook 

 from that of the men in regard to those of the latter. You have 

 as a man investigator, Avhen studying a native tribe in anything 

 like its normal state, to impress the men with the idea that you 

 are fully seized of the fact that v/omen and children must know 

 nothing. They must realize that you understand the importance 

 of silence. If they suspect you, or, indeed, any one of themselves, 

 of being what the Arunta man calls " Irkun oknirra," or as a 

 native once, very ungallantly, described it to me as " All same 

 woman, always talking," they shut' up like an oyster. It is most 

 desirable that, before it is too late, an investigation of beliefs and 

 customs from a woman's point of vieAv should be made by a woman 

 trained in anthropological methods. A few years ago I was 

 fortunate enough to arrange for such an investigation under excep- 

 tionally favorable conditions in the Northern Territory, but the 

 war intervened and prevented the carrying out of the plan. I 

 feel sure that amongst Australian tribes a woman who would 

 simply investigate matters from the outlook of a native woman, 

 and Avould not attempt to gain any information of, or to investi- 

 gate beliefs and customs especially associated with, the men, would 

 d'j most valuable work. 



After these preliminary remarks I pass on to d^al with the 

 organization of Australian tribes as revealing to us an early, but 

 iby no means a really primitive, state of human society, but at 

 the same time giving us some little idea of the nature of this. 

 The subject is one of great extent, and all that I propose to do is 

 to summarize in broad outline our knowledge of it, which is 

 probably now fairly complete. 



