THE 
QUEENSLAND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 
(From the Queensland Guardian, June 2, 1866.) 
THE KOMMILLAROY TRIBE. 
At the meeting of the Philosophical Society, 
held on Monday evening last, Mr. Charles 
Cozen read the follovwng paper : — 
“ A paper on^eome of the laws and customs of 
that section of Australian aborigines, known as 
Kommillaroy.” 
So very little being known of the customs 
regulating the general economy of the several 
tribes of Australian aborigines, and believing 
that any information on this subject will be of 
some interest and value not only to this Society, 
but to the colonists generally, I have been in- 
duced to bring to your notice such scraps of 
information concerning the usuages of the 
Kommilaroy tribes, gathered by me during an 
experience of some twelve years of my earlier 
life. I must, in excuse, for what to myself 
appears the meagreness of. such information, 
beg to state that when the opportunity occurred 
for acquiring much greater knowledge on 
this subject, than I now possess, I neglected it, 
as at that time I had not the most remote idea 
that at some future period, I should be desirous 
of committing the same to paper. In judging 
of the abmiginal habits and manners, we must 
be careful that we do not suffer our minds to be 
influenced by the semi-civilised creatures we see 
about our towns and settled districts, or we 
shall lose altogether the characteristics of the 
savage in his normal condiiion. In the first 
they are in most cases drunken, fawning, idle, 
and treacherous ; indeed, the contact with 
civilisation having afforded much opportunity 
for gratifying evil propensities, without corres- 
ponding benefits, has left them so degraded, as, 
I fear, to be incapable of improvement. 
In the last, they possess all the attributes of 
savagedom, and when their passions are 
influenced by injury or avarice, they show a 
ferocity, vindictiveness, and treachery, equal to 
anything found in the historic annals of their 
more civilised brethren ; and, possessing but 
indistinct ideas of meum and teum ) they 
thoroughly believe in the old motto of “ Let 
him take who has the power, and let him keep 
who can j” but with all these bad and dan- 
gerous qualities, I have-found them possessed 
of much simplicity, and when treated with 
firmness (so necessary for the subjugation of 
all savages), tempered with uniform kindness 
and truthfulness, capable of being utilised to a 
considerable extent. In many cases, some of, 
which are on record, they have shown a degree S' 
of honesty and attachment, together with other 
qualities that no civilised man need blush to 
own, with a sufficient capacity for much im- 
provement, which, being dormant, only requires 
a proper method and system for vitalising 
into activity ; but whilst being convinced of 
these capabilities, I am also aware of, and 
fully recognise, the almost insurmountable 
difficulties of carrying out any plan or system 
in the present condition of things that would 
permanently utilise or benefit the aborignal 
race. 
The Kommilaroy tribes, at the advent of the 
white man in Australia, were amongst the most 
warlike of the native tribes ; and, whilst speak- 
ing the same language and submitting to the 
same laws and customs, were divided into 
sections, according to the different localities 
which extended over a very large tract of 
country, comprising the heads of the Hunter, 
Goulbourn, and north branch of Hawkesbury 
Rivers, Liverpool Plains, Mookai and Lower 
Namoi Rivers. Indeed, the Wellington Yalley 
tribes appear to be a branch of the Kom- 
milaroys, as their customs, superstitions, and 
primary names, with some trifling exceptions, 
are the same. Before entering on the prin- 
ciples of their nomenclature, which forms a 
leading feature in this paper, I will call your 
attention to the fact that each member of the 
tribe possesses three names, which may be de- 
scribed as primary, family, and surname or 
soubriquet . The whole of the Kommilaroy 
tribes possess but four primary names among 
them, two of which names form one division, 
