110 ON THE ORGANISATION OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 
at each local group, and some one of them was recognised as their Head. Some 
were orators, some warriors, others great wizards. When a number of people met 
together the old men used to meet at some place at a distance from the camp, and 
consulted over matters of importance. For instance, although a man could promise 
his infant daughter in marriage, it was the old men in consultation who decided 
when any marriageable girl might be taken by her promised husband. The Head- 
man always had some particular friend who assisted him, and at times served as his 
mouthpiece. The following illustration has been given me :—A man from the tribe 
at Geelong went to the quarry near Mount Macedon, whence the blacks obtained the 
stone for their tomahawks, and took some without the leave of the man who lived 
there, and who, with his kindred, claimed the quarry as his own. This man, who was 
the Headman of the clan which inhabited the country from Melbourne up the 
Saltwater River, and including the neighbourhood of Mount Macedon where the 
quarry was, sent a message to the offender’s section of the tribe at Geelong, which, 
in consequence, proceeded to Mount Macedon under the direction of its Ngurungaeta. 
Berak, who was present at the meeting, described it tome. The meeting was near 
the Werribee River, and the men met at a place apart from the camp. The old men 
sat near each other, and the younger men near to them. The Geelong men sat 
together, and the Mount Macedon men and their Headman sat together. Their 
weapons were all left at their camps. Bilibileri, who had the charge of the quarry, 
and who was the Headman at that place, had beside him his friend, the man to 
whom he gave his words, and who spoke for him, and who, standing up, said, ‘‘ Did 
some of you send this young man to take the tomahawk stone?” ‘The old men of 
the Geelong tribe said, “‘No; we sent no one.” Then Bilibileri said to his spokes- 
man, ‘‘ Tell them to say to the young man not to do so any more, and that when 
people speak about being in want of stone for tomahawks they must send messengers 
to us.” The Geelong men said, ‘“‘ Very good; we will do so.” They then spoke 
strongly to the young man, and cautioned him not to do so any more. After this 
meeting the tribes were again friendly. 
According to Berak, a Headman could order the young men of his camp to do 
things for him, and his wife could likewise order the young women to do things for 
her, and they would obey. 
If a Headman had a son who was respected by the tribe’s people, he would become 
a Headman also in time. If he were, however, a bad man, or if people did not like 
him, they would have someone else, and most likely some relative of the former 
Ngurungaeta, such as his brother, or his brother’s son. 
Living at the Wimmera River, and along its course to the mallee scrub beyond 
Lake Albacutya, was the Wotjobaluk tribe.* It was divided socially into the two 
* See ‘‘ Further Notes on the Australian Class Systems,” p. 60, Journal Anthrop. Inst., August, 1888. 
