ON THE ORGANISATION OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 105 
fact, that there is any ‘‘ government in Australian tribes,” and he defines “ govern- 
ment ’’ as being the ‘‘ habitual exercise of authority by one or a few individuals over 
a community or a body of persons.” i 
I have already said that there must be some executive to carry out punishments 
inflicted for offences. I propose now to show what this executive power is, and how 
it acts in an Australian tribe. To do this it will be best to give some instances taken 
from tribes far apart, and which will thus show the generality of the principles 
deducible from them. But I must again remind the reader that custom varies much, 
and that it is never safe to argue from a practice in any one tribe to the practices in 
all tribes. 
I have very fully described the customs of the Kurnai tribe in several places,* 
and may refer the reader to them for general information as to the organisation of 
that tribe. I shall now only add some particulars which will illustrate the present 
position I take up. Nearly thirty years ago two old men were recognised by the 
tribe’s people as their Gweraeil-Kurnai or ‘“‘ Great Men.” One lived in the northern 
and the other in the southern part of the district. These men were the recognised 
leaders in peace and war of the northern and southern divisions into which the tribe 
had naturally fallen through locality and language. There were also other old men 
who were “‘ Gweraeil-Kurnai’’ respectively in the divisions of the tribe to which they 
belonged, and it is significant that some of these men gave their names to those local 
divisions.| ‘The two principal ‘“ Gweraeil-Kurnai”’ determined when the initiation 
ceremonies should take place, and were the respective leaders of their moieties of the 
tribe in war.{ When some man was called to come forth and submit to the ordeal 
of spears 16 was the Gweraeil-Kurnai who directed the proceedings, and it was he who 
sent out messengers on errands of peace or of war. 
In a case which I have referred to in a former work,§ when a man named 
Bunbra was compelled to stand out in an ordeal of spears and other weapons, it 
was the Gweraeil-Kurnai of the northern division of the tribe who conducted the 
proceedings. This Headman, Bruthen Munji, is long dead, and all the other 
Headmen of the tribe of that time have gradually died off, and I have watched with 
much interest the manner in which the governing power of the tribe has been 
perpetuated. As the oldest of the Headmen died, the next oldest survivor became 
invested with authority, until at length, within the last few years, the above- 
mentioned Bunbra came to be the oldest man among the survivors of the tribe, and 
* Kamilaroi and Kurnai, Geo. Robertson, Melbourne, 1883. p 
The Jeraeil or Initiation Ceremonies of the Kurnai tribe. Journal of Anthrop. Inst., May, 1885. 
On Australian Medicine Men. Journal of Anthrop. Inst., August, 1886. 
+ Op. cit., p. 228. 
t Op. cit., p. 212. 
§ Op. cit., p. 216. 
