ON THE ORGANISATION OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 109 
I may add to this that when a blackfellow acting as a guide to a white man ran 
off and took refuge with another horde, and was followed, the Headman, after hearing 
all the particulars and being satisfied that no harm was intended to the fugitive, 
could order him to go and was obeyed. 
I have observed the reverence shown by the young men to the old men, and by 
these to the oldest, that is to say, to their Pinaru, to be very great. On one occasion, 
when travelling in the southern edge of the so-called ‘‘ Sturt’s ” Desert, a deputation 
of old men interviewed me, and requested that I would visit their ‘‘ Pina-pinaru,”’ 
whom I found to be a man almost imbecile from extreme age, and who was carried 
about by the other men. 
A large group of kindred tribes inhabited an extent of country to the north, 
south, and west of Melbourne, to which, collectively, the name of the ‘ Kulin 
nation ’ may be applied, from the word which in some form of dialectic variation was 
used by them as meaning one of their own men. My information is derived from 
Berak, the sole survivor of the tribe, an intelligent and trustworthy old man, who was 
a boy when Batman first founded Melbourne.* 
These tribes were divided into two great exogamous inter-marrying classes, 
named respectively Bunjil and Waa (eaglehawk and crow), with descent counted in 
the male line, that is to say, the children of a Bunjil man were Bunjil, and of a Waa 
man were Waa. ‘There was, however, this peculiarity, that each of the component 
tribes was either all Bunjil or all Waa. Thus of the sixteen tribes which have been 
enumerated to me, six were Waa, eight were Bunjil, and the two remaining ones had 
escaped the memory of my informant. One of these tribes was the Urunjeri baluk, + 
which occupied the country iying along the Yarra, Plenty, and Saltwater Rivers. 
The Urunjeri people were also commonly spoken of as the Woe-worung, that being 
the name of their language. The Urunjeri tribe being Waa} was divided into three 
great local clans§ at the time when Melbourne was first settled. There was a 
Headman to each clan, whose designation was Ngurungaeta. A Headman must be of 
mature age, must be respected for eminent qualities. He sent out messengers to bring 
people together for corroborees or for fighting. It was he who sent out parties to 
revenge the death of anyone who was thought to have been killed by the magic of 
neighbouring tribes. At the set fights, in expiation of some wrong done, it was the 
Ngurungaeta who had the power of putting an end to it if he thought that enough 
had been done.|| Berak specially said that he did not remember any occasion when 
the Kulin had refused to obey the orders of the Ngurungaeta. There wasa Headman 
* As to Berak, see ‘‘Songs and Song Makers of Australian Tribes,”’ Journal of the Anthrop. Inst., February, 1887. 
+ Urunjeri = White gum (E. yiminalis)—Baluk, a number of people—a horde or clau. 
{ That is to say, all Waa men with Bunjil wives and Waa children. 
: § I again point out for safety that I use horde for local divisions of tribes having maternal descent, and clan for 
local divisions of tribes having paternal descent. 
|| See Morgan’s memoirs of Buckley, p. 41. 
