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ON THE ORGANISATION OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 99 
I first proceed to consider the relations of Malera and Wuthera to each other. 
One moiety of the tribe is Malera, and the other moiety of the tribe is Wuthera.* 
On the same level in a generation, all such in the Kurgila sub-class as are of 
the same totem name are regarded as brothers and sisters. The father of Kurgila is 
Wungo, and the mother of Kureila is Banbean. These sub-classes are the parents 
of the sub-class Kurgila, and so on with the other sub-classes and totems. It will be 
shown further on why it is that these different levels in the generations are thus 
regarded, but for the present it will suffice to poimt out that such is the case, and 
that it indicates a relationship of group to group. This inference the reader will do 
well to bear in mind in perusing these notes. 
Malera and Wuthera intermarry. A Malera man marries a Wuthera woman, 
and a Wuthera man marries a Malera woman. No one may marry one of the same 
class, sub-class, or totem, and even casual amours between such are regarded as a 
srave offence. The child takes the name of its mother. 
Replacing the names Malera and Wuthera by the letters A and B respectively, 
we can now construct a little diagram of the marriages and descents in the primary 
classes, which will also be of some use later on in this paper. The letters m=male, 
and f=female. 
mA 
|) dB) 
i, 
In very many tribes the primary classes are directly subdivided into lesser groups, 
each of which bears the name of an animal, or of some other natural object, and 
which, from their analogy to the well-known North American tribal divisions, have 
been called ‘ totems.” 
In the Wakelbura example I have, for the sake of clearness, given the English 
equivalents of those names. In this tribe, as in almost all tribes throughout Eastern 
Australia, there are also other sub-divisions of the community which are interposed 
between the primary classes and the totems. The well-known and often described 
Kamilaroi classes—Ipai—Kumbo and Muri=Kubi, are familiar examples. I shall 
describe, shortly, their equivalents in the Wakelbura system. 
Malera divides into two sub-classes, named Kurgila and Banbe ; and Wuthera into 
two, named Wungo and Obu. Each sub-class, as I have already stated, forms a 
* The female name is formed by adding the feminine termination “an.” Thus the man Wuthera has Wutheran for 
his sister, the sister of Kurgil is Kurgilan, of Banbe is Banbean, and so on with the other names. This applies also to the 
totem names. 
