AUSTRALIAN DIVISIONAL SYSTEMS. 81 



The Rev. Wm. Ridley, in his "Journal of a Missionary Tour 

 among the Aborigines in 1855," 1 stated that the family names at 

 Moreton Bay were Bandur, Bundar, Barang and Derwain, with 

 the corresponding female names Bandtiran, Bundaran, Barangan, 

 and Derwaingan. He reported that the Warwick and Canning 

 Downs blacks had the same family names as at Moreton Bay, and 

 also that these names prevailed from the latter place to Wide Bay. 2 



In 1865 Mr. G. S. Lang said : "The Moreton Bay blacks are 

 divided into four classes, and all the children take after the class 

 of their mother." 3 The Rev. E. Fuller, a missionary for some 

 years at Fraser's Island, north of Wide Bay, says: "The children 

 are supposed to belong to the mother's tribe." 4 



In 1883 Mr. E. Palmer stated that he found the divisions 

 mentioned by Mr. Ridley extending northerly from Wide Bay to 

 near Rockhampton, except that Balcoin was used instead of 

 Bandur. 5 He also reported them as existing among the tribes in 

 the Bunya Bunya Mountains. The last statement is confirmed 

 by the Rev. J. Mathew, one of Mr. Curr's correspondents. Mr. 

 Mathew says: "The names of the children depended directly on 

 the mother's name." 6 



Mr. Palmer, from information supplied to him by Mr. Jocelyn 

 Brooke, Sub-Inspector of Police, gives a diagram showing the four 

 names in a rectangular position, and states that " the child always 

 takes its name from that opposite to its father's name." 7 This does 

 not necessarily lead to the inference that descent is through the 

 father, though it may bear this construction. 



In 1888 Mr. A. W. Howitt, from particulars furnished to him 

 by Mr. Palmer's informant Mr. Brooke, arrived at the conclusion 

 that "descent was in the male line." 8 In 1894, partly from Mr. 



1 This article was also published in Dr. Lang's "Queensland," (1861), 

 p 436 



2 Kaniilaroi and other Australian Languages, (1875), p. 163. 



3 Aborigines of Australia, p. 10. 



4 Queenslander, Sept. 7, 1872. 



5 Joura. Anthrop. Inst., xin.. 304, 305. 



6 Australian Racn, in., 162, 163. 



7 Journ. Anthrop. last., xiil., 305. 8 Ibid., xvin., 49, 50. 



F— June 1, 1898. 



