PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. LXV 



so-called " nations." It is,, however, of importance to note that 

 groups of cQntiguoiis tribes are more or less loosely allied to one 

 another. Thus, for example, in Central Australia we have, in the 

 region of Lake Eyre, what Dr. Howitt called the Dieri nation, 

 consisting of tribes counting descent in the maternal line. To the 

 north of this we have the Arunta nation, including the Arunta 

 and others, counting descent in the male line. North of this 

 there is the Warramunga, including this important tribe and 

 others, such as the Tjingilli, Worgaia, Umbaia, Bingongina, 

 Walpari, Wulmala, and Gnangi. Inland, to the west of the Gulf 

 of Carpentaria, there is the Binbinga, including the latter and the 

 Allaua and others, whilst on the shores of the gulf there is the 

 Mara, including the Anula, Nullakun, and others. Certainly the 

 best, perhaps the only real, proof existing at the present day of 

 any alliance amongst these groups of tribes forming the nations 

 is that their members foregather iby mutual invitation for the per- 

 formance of certain ceremonies, more especially those of initia- 

 tion, or when a special food supply is available, as, for example, 

 the Bunya-bunya fruit in Queensland or the Bogong moth in Vic- 

 toria. These invitations are strictly limited to the members 

 respectively of well-defined groups of tribes. 



Two theories may be suggested to account for this association. 

 According to one, it may be regarded as a recent development, 

 certain tribes, as it were, drawing together and aggregating in 

 groups. According to another, we, may regard it as indicating a 

 splitting up of former larger communities, of which the tribes at 

 present existing are the surviving components. In view of 

 evidence to be referred to later, I am inclined to think that this 

 present temporary gathering together points, not to a modern 

 aggregation, but to a gradual breaking up of once larger into 

 smaller communities. 



The extraordinary number of tribes each with its own distinct 

 dialect, and occupying its own country, is one of the most difficult 

 things to explain in regard to Australian ethnology. It is not as 

 if the tribes were usually separated from one another by physical 

 barriers. In a few cases when, as in the i^orth, they occupy 

 islands, such as Melville and Bathurst, this is so; in the South- 

 west, the rugged ranges of the Great Divide shut off a few coastal 

 tribes in Victoria and New South Wales from those of the interior, 

 but otherwise there are no obvious geographical barriers ; in fact, 

 over the whole central area the reverse is true. Between Lake 

 Eyre, in the south, and Darwin, in the north, there is only one 

 possible barrier in the form of the Macdonnell Ranges, that run 

 east and west for 300 miles, but they lie right across the centre 

 of the country occupied by the Arunta Tribe. It is apparently 

 only climatic conditions that have caused the segregation of 

 groups of tribes. The remnants in Central Australia of great 

 1084.— 3 



