Kinship Organisations and Group Marriage in Australia

The study presents a concise survey of Australian Aboriginal social organisation, defining terms such as tribe, sub-tribe, phratry, class and totem kin and mapping descent rules including matriliny. It compiles comparative tables and maps of class and phratry names and traces their geographical distributions, examines hypotheses for the origin and development of phratries and class systems, and evaluates competing theories. The work analyses kinship vocabularies and classificatory terms, classifies types of sexual unions and scrutinizes claims about group marriage and related institutions such as pirrauru and temporary unions, and notes regional anomalies, providing appendices, indices and illustrative tables to support the evidence.