154 R. H. MATHEWS. 
THE TOTEMIC DIVISIONS OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 
By R. H. Maruews, Licensed Surveyor. 
[Read before the Royal Society of N. 8. Wales, July 7, 1897.] 
TuE first reference to the divisions of Australian tribes of which 
I am aware is contained in the works of Sir George Grey. In 
the years 1837-39, when exploring in Western Australia he found 
that the aborigines there were “ divided into certain great families, 
all the members of which bear the same names. . . Each family 
adopts some animal or vegetable as their kobong, as they call it.” 
He also noticed that “a man cannot marry a woman of his own 
family name, and the children always take the family name of 
their mother.” He was acquainted with the totemic divisions of 
the North American Indians, because he quotes from the Archo- 
logia Americana, published in 1836, describing the divisions of 
American tribes, which was no doubt of great assistance to him 
in his investigations respecting similar customs among the abori- 
gines of Australia. Sir George Grey says, ‘ The family names 
are common over a great portion of the western coast, extending 
between four and five hundred miles in latitude.” 
The Rev. Wm. Ridley is the next writer on this subject. At 
different times between the years 1853 and 1875 he published the 
results of his enquiries in regard to the divisions of the Kamilaroi 
tribes on the Namoi and other rivers in New South Wales. Like 
most investigators on a new subject, which was moreover a com- 
plicated one, he arrived at some erroneous conclusions at first, but 
on going into the district on subsequent occasions, and pursuing 
his enquiries, he was enabled to correct some of his former im- 
pressions. His last work, published in 1875,” although incomplete 
1 Two Expeds. N. W. and W. Australia, Vol. 11., pp. 225 and 228. 
2 « Kamilaroi and Other Australian Languages,” pp. 161 - 165. 
