204 THE EEGULATION OF NUMBEES 



groups, were, in general, subject to tribal over-rights, though we 

 have no clear information on this point.' ^ 



There is no doubt, in the first place, that the tribes were every- 

 where restricted to clearly defined territories. ^ Doubt only arises 

 with regard to the smaller groups. The usual mode of living is 

 in small groups of one to three families, which usually form 

 a portion of a local group, but which may exceptionally be actual 

 local groups. Only in the more fertile districts is the number of 

 families living in contact greater.^ These local groups, into 

 which the tribes are. divided, seem generally to have their clearly 

 defined areas within the tribal territory. Thus Brown, speaking 

 of the Kariera tribe of Western Australia, says that ' the country 

 of a local group, with all its products, animal, vegetable, and 

 mineral, belongs to the members of the group in common. Any 

 member of the group has the right to hunt over the country of 

 his group at all times. He may not, however, hunt over the 

 country of any other local group w^ithout the permission of its 

 owners.' * 



In some parts no further subdivision of the land was recognized. 

 ' I could not find ', says Brown of Western Australia, ' any 

 evidence of the individual ownership of any part of the soil or 

 of any of its products. The whole of the territory of the group 

 and everything in it seem to belong equally to all the members 

 of the group.' ^ In other parts wo hear of family ownership ; 

 Stanbridge says of Victoria that the tribal land ' has been from 

 time immemorable parcelled out among its families and trans- 

 mitted by direct descent to the present generation '.^ Further, 

 some accounts speak of individual ownership. The natives of 

 King George's Sound ' who live together have the exclusive right 

 of fishing and hunting upon the neighbouring grounds, which are, 

 in fact, divided into individual properties, the quantity of land 

 owned by each individual being very considerable '.' Eyre 

 speaks of the parcelhng out of territory among the individual 



* Wheeler, loc. cit., p. 45. Malinowski (loc. cit., p. 152) comments on this tribal 

 over-right, which, he says, is shadowy. ^ See, for instance. Brown, J. A, I., 



vol. xliii, p. 144, for Western Australia ; Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes, p. 7, 

 for Central Australia ; and Stanbridge, Trans. Eth. Soc., new series, vol. i, p. 286, 

 for Victoria. * Malinowski, loc. cit., p. 156. * Brown, J. A. I., vol. xliii, 



p. 145. Spencer and Gillen describe the ownership by local groups of quarries 

 where stone suitable for making instruments is found {Native Tribes, p. 590). 

 " Ibid., p. 146. See, too, Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes, p. 27. * Stan- 



bridge, loc. cit., p. 286. See also Parker, Aborigines, p. 12. ' Brown, Geog. 



Journ., vol. i, p. 12. 



