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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:—
Classes. | Sub-Classes. | Totems. | ||
Mirunjul | Mulloaru | black or brush wallaby | ||
Mahnul | black iguana | |||
Kurithulla | eagle-hawk | |||
Buljir | sandal-wood | |||
Jiimi | Chewar | great owl | ||
Walukumbi | frilled iguana | |||
Kapulla | brigalow | |||
Kulpuwurra | Wataern | crow | ||
Waiya | Scrub 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.
Classes. | Sub-Classes. | Totems. | |
Malera | Kurgila | Opossum, spiney ant-eater, eagle-hawk, turkey, iguana, black bee, kangaroo | |
Banbe | Forest kangaroo, ringtail opossum, iguana | ||
Wuthera | Wungo | Emu, carpet snake, gidya tree, wallaby | |
Obu | Black duck, carpet snake, large bee, emu, walleroo, gidya tree, wallaby |