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112

NATIVE TRIBES OF SOUTH-EAST AUSTRALIA

CH.

The totems were called Baikain, and were transmitted from mother to child. They were usually animals, but also trees. The totem names appear to have been grouped under other names, such as Mirunjul, the effect of which has not been explained, but possibly they may resemble the arrangement of the Wotjobaluk totems. The following list gives the totems and collective names so far as they have been recorded:—

UNGORRI TRIBE[1]
Classes.Sub-Classes.Totems.
MirunjulMulloarublack or brush wallaby
Mahnulblack iguana
Kurithullaeagle-hawk
Buljirsandal-wood
JiimiChewargreat owl
Walukumbifrilled iguana
Kapullabrigalow
KulpuwurraWataerncrow
WaiyaScrub wallaby

Westward of the tribes of which the Kuinmurbura is the example, and on the waters falling into the Burdekin River, there is the class system of which the Ungorri is one of the most southern extensions, and which has apparently the widest range of the four sub-class systems of Queensland. As a typical example of this form of social organisation I take the Wakelbura tribe of the Belyando River.

WAKELBURA TRIBE[2]
Classes.Sub-Classes.Totems.
MaleraKurgilaOpossum, spiney ant-eater, eagle-hawk, turkey, iguana, black bee, kangaroo
BanbeForest kangaroo, ringtail opossum, iguana
WutheraWungoEmu, carpet snake, gidya tree, wallaby
ObuBlack duck, carpet snake, large bee, emu, walleroo, gidya tree, wallaby
  1. J. Lalor.
  2. J. C. Muirhead.
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