Kinship

Every aspect of life and responsibilities for looking after country is governed by kinship ties. Aboriginal languages have special linguistic features that eloquently express these ties and responsibilities.

Aboriginal society is organised into many kinds of social divisions. All people, plants, animals, places, weather, landscapes and ceremonies are divided into halves or moieties such as Duwa and Yirridjdja, Mardku and Ngarradjku.

Each moiety is subdivided into four pairs of subsections or ‘skin groups’. A child’s skin group is determined by that of their mother but they inherit their moiety from their father. Through the use of skin groups Aboriginal people organise marriage relationships and use skin group names as important ways of addressing and referring to other Aboriginal people.

Members of a particular clan have a number of clan totems or emblems that are associated with the clan and its moiety. Such totems have their religious focus in special places or sacred sites in their clan estates. If the totem is a plant or animal that is relied upon as a food source, then members of the owning clan have responsibilities to ensure the plentiful supply of this food.