Much of the information presented here is derived from historical records such as the letters and papers of settlers and administrators of early Victoria. Although extensive, these records provide a fragmentary insight into traditional Aboriginal culture. The most extensively used source of information is the book Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An historical Atlas of Central Victoria, 1800-1900 (Ian Clark, 1990) . See the Resources section of this website for an extensive list of information sources.
Aboriginal people have lived in Victoria for at least 30,000 years. During more than 1,600 generations they created complex cultures that were intimately intertwined with the landforms and ecosystems of this land. They lived through the last ice age and colonised the continent shelf as sea levels fell. Then as the world warmed, they witnessed the isolation of Tasmania from the mainland, the flooding of river valleys and bays, the eruption of volcanoes on the plains and the formation of many of the geological features that are so familiar and seemingly so ageless to us today. All these events were adapted to by peoples who explained the world and their relationship to it and each other through complex systems of belief and law.
Many people are familiar with the concept of the tribe as a group of people that share a culture, language, kinship ties, spiritual beliefs and often also economic and political interests. However, when considering Aboriginal societies of south-eastern Australia the concepts of clan and language-culture group are more relevant.
Prior to European settlement, there were 300 to 500 Aboriginal clans in the region that is now the state of Victoria. Each clan consisted of several dozen to several hundred people identifying with a particular clan estate.
Every person belonged to a skin-group descended from a particular ancestral creator spirit. Depending on the language-culture group, a person’s skin was inherited from either their mother or their father. Such kinship systems were an important aspect of strict systems of law among Aboriginal cultures, which governed social, political and economic interactions, including the choice of marriage partner, and access to land and resources.
The kinship systems of south west Victoria were arranged as paired skin-groups. In such arrangements the skin-groups are called moieties (an anthropological term meaning paired). A person’s moiety was inherited from either their mother (matrilineal descent) or their father (patrilineal descent). In language-culture groups with patrilineal descent all men within a clan belonged to the same moiety and all children born into the clan inherited that moiety. In language-culture groups with matrilineal descent all women shared a moiety and all children born into the clan inherited it.
The moieties of the kinship systems in the area covered by this website were:
A
statue of Bungil near the Yarra River in Melbourne| Moieties | Language-culture groups | Inheritance |
| Waa (Crow) + Bungil (Eagle) |
Wada wurrung, Djab Wurrung, Djadja Wurrung, Woi Wurrung, Bun Wurrung |
Patrilineal |
| Gabadj (Black Cockatoo) + Guragidj (White Cockatoo) |
Gulidjan, Djargurd Wurrung, Kirai Wurrung, Dhauwurd Wurrung |
Matrilineal |
| King Parrot (possibly) + Unknown |
Gudabanud | Unknown |
Marriage played a key role in maintaining social and political structures in Aboriginal society. Marriage between partners from within the same skin group was forbidden Therefore marriages were always between partners from different clans and thereby created relationships and alliances between the clans. Every marriage was carefully considered by the female elders of the clans concerned. Matters of law would have been played a critical role in the deliberations. However benefits in terms of access to land and resources, and the forming of political alliances would also have been very important. Marriages were sometimes permissible between partners who belonged to clans from different language-culture groups. Because of this, the mosaic of relationships between clans and language groups were very complex. Because women were in charge of arranging marriages, they exerted a great deal of control over the structure and politics of Aboriginal society.
Each clan identified with a particular portion of the landscape - known in English as the clan estate. Ties to clan estates included complex spiritual connections, often expressed through the conduct of ceremonial obligations, and the passing on of sacred knowledge about mythologies associated with particular places, ecosystems, plants and animals, the night sky, and seasonal and historical events.
Because of the complex nature of spiritual beliefs and the intertwining of clans through marriage, it is possible that the estate boundaries would not always have been clearly definable in the manner of boundary lines on a map, but none-the-less were clearly perceived and understood. Maps are presented on the pages that follow which show the approximate locations of each clan estate in the Corangamite region.
Through intermarriage and other alliances people were able to access land and resources far beyond their own estates. Access to land and resources were negotiated through discussion, marriage, ceremony and adherence to law.
The locations of clan estates are shown on the language group maps that can be found by clicking on coloured areas on the Language groups and clans of central south west victoria map.
Clans were united in alliances based on a shared language, spirituality and
law. Such alliances are called
language-culture groups.
There were about thirty language-culture groups in Victoria. However, the groups were not always strictly distinct from each other. Intermarriage between partners from the clans of different language-culture groups played a role in forming and maintaining relationships and alliances between them. In some cases language culture groups were themselves allied in larger alliances that have been called federations. For example, in south central Victoria the Djadja Wurrung, Daung Wurrung, Woi Wurrung, Bun Wurrung and Wada Wurrung occupied adjacent territories, spoke related languages, and shared many aspects of their cultural systems and spiritual beliefs. Together they are known as the Kulin Federation.
[A note about the term tribe : In early Victorian records the ' tribe' is variously and inconsistently applied to clans, to language-culture groups, or to bands (as described below). However, anthropologists generally use the word tribe to describe groups of people that share a language and culture, but that in addition have some form of formal centralised leadership. Aboriginal peoples by contrast were generally led by elders who had earned respect through the display of wisdom and strength.]
The people of a clan did not always live together to the exclusion of other clans. In the course of every-day life people generally lived together in bands (sometimes referred to as hords) that consisted of members from one or more clans. A band was a group of people interacting and working together in a manner similar to people in a village, except that it was able to move from place to place as the need arose. Membership was dynamic, with people joining or leaving as obligations and needs dictated.
In some places there were times of seasonal abundance of various kinds of food. Such events enabled many people to gather together, both to exploit the resource and for ceremonial and social pursuits. Such an event would in some respects have resembled a modern day festival.
For example, clans of the Girai Wurrung, Djab Wurrung, Dhauwurd Wurrung and Wada Wurrung came together for summer-autumn eel harvests at Lake Bolac and for the hunting of emu and other game at Mirraewue Swamp near Hexam. Similar gatherings occurred among southern clans at the Lake Condah eel fishery, where over the course of thousands of years extensive channels, weirs, stone traps and permanent stone dwellings were constructed - thereby enabling semi-permanent settlements to be established.
Gatherings also occurred when matters of great importance needed to be discussed and acted upon. No doubt many such events were organised to discuss and decide on responses to the European invasion. For example, as settlers and their flocks flooded across the plains from Melbourne and Portland in the first chaotic decade of European invasion, Kaarn Kuunawarn, an important clan head of the Girai Wurrung people, summoned four clans to a place called Kuunawarn, presumably to discuss how they should respond. Over a thousand people are estimated to have attended.