Flowers, W. H.

University of Queensland eSpace

1254 
HABITS, CUSTOMS AND RELATIONSHIPS 
OF THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINALS 
[By W. H. FLOWERS, Rockhampton and District 
Historical Association.] 
(Read at a meeting of the Society on August 23, 1956.) 
The following particulars of some habits, customs, 
and relationships of the Australian aboriginals have 
been compiled from notes written many years ago by 
my uncle, Mr. William Flowers, who, in his early days, 
had made a careful study of these people, and was 
accepted as an authority on their customs. 
Before the advent of the whites the aboriginals 
in the Rockhampton and Palmerston district belonged 
to the large Tarumbal tribe, and they lived mainly in 
small family clans of from twenty to thirty, who 
camped together in one place. The men hunted and 
fished, and the women collected yams, earth-nuts, 
water-lily roots, fruit, etc., from the scrubs, lagoons 
and swamps adjacent to the camp. When food began 
to get scarce in one place the camp was shifted to 
another part of the country. 
Each of these clans had its own name, which 
usually ended in "bura," which means "men of." The 
clan which lived on Torilla Plains was called "Kuinmer-
bura," "Kuinmer," meaning a plain. The clan at the 
top end of Torilla peninsula near Stanage were "Kuta-
bura," "Kuta" meaning the end. The clan at Canal 
Creek were "Ristebura," "Riste" meaning sandfly. 
Naturally, at times the different clans would wish 
to get together to talk matters over, perhaps to arrange 
for a corroboree and the initiation of the young boys 
into manhood. 
There appears to have been quite a lot of formality 
about these meetings which were never done hurriedly. 
The visitors who wished to talk to another clan would 
walk to within about 100 yards from the camp of the 
visited clan and sit down in an open space. After wait-
ing for some time the visited clan, if they wished to 
talk, would send some of the women to light a fire near 
where the visitors were sitting. When the fire was well 
1255 
alight and the women returned, one or more of the men 
would walk slowly over and sit down near the fire, 
neither party speaking. After a time, both parties 
would start to cry and this went on for some minutes, 
then talk would begin. 
If all consented to a change and a general meeting, 
a corroboree might be arranged. This was the meeting 
of two or more clans with games, dancing, speeches, 
etc. Weapons would be compared and exchanged. 
Sometimes wives were exchanged, either permanently 
or only until the corroboree was finished. After a time 
food would get scarce round the camp and then the 
different clans would separate, each going back to its 
own country. 
Probably the greatest event in every aboriginal 
man's life was the one in which he was initiated into 
all the secrets and ceremonies of aboriginal life, or, as 
he describes it, "when he was made a man." A bora 
was held when the old men of the tribes decided there 
were enough big boys and young men to be initiated. 
When it was decided to hold a bora, the time and 
place when and where it would be held was first fixed. 
The time would probably be a few nights before the 
second full moon. This would give time for runners to 
contact the adjacent and near adjacent tribes. The 
position of the bora ground would have to be carefully 
considered as regards food; as the blacks had no means 
of conserving food, the locality chosen would have to 
be one where game, yams, fruit, etc., were reasonably 
plentiful. To feed up to some 500 people on daily hunt-
ings was not easy. 
While these matters were being discussed, some 
of the old men wo.uld make message sticks. These 
sticks were sometimes elaborately carved, and, with the 
crude tools available, must have taken some time to 
make. The one which I possess was given to my uncle 
after a bora, and would be at least eighty years old. 
Runners to carry the message sticks were chosen 
from active members of the clan, as they were expected 
to travel long distances in quick time. 
When preparations were completed and runners 
chosen they were given verbal instructions as to where 
1256 
to go and the time and place of the bora. Each one 
was then given a message stick and sent off on his 
mission. 
While carrying a message stick the runner was 
considered sacred and when he got to the carnp of the 
clan to which he had been sent, instead of sitting down 
and waiting for someone to come to him, he would 
walk straight in holding up the message stick. When 
men of the clan came round him they were given the 
message verbally and the message stick handed in. A 
camp was then got ready for him, food supplied, and a 
young woman from the tribe from which he must take 
his wife sent to attend to his wants. 
Relationship of the Australian Aboriginal 
The tribal relationships of the aborigines are 
neither easy to understand nor to describe, as, in many 
ways, they are quite different from the blood relation-
ship of the white man. 
The people of each tribe are divided into two main 
divisions, though under different names in different 
parts of the country. The people occupying the Palmer-
ston district and adjacent country were known as the 
Tarumbal tribe. This tribe was divided into two divi-
sions—Youngeru and Witteru, the women being Youn-
geruan and Witteruan, the feminine being denoted by 
adding "an" or "n" to the masculine name. Every 
Youngeru must take as his wife a Witteruan, and every 
Witteru must take a Youngeruan. 
These divisions are again subdivided into four sub-
divisions, Kurpal, Kuialla and Karilbura and Munal. 
Every man must take his wife from the proper 
subdivision of the tribe. The children belong to the 
same division as their mother, but to the opposite sub-
divisions, thus: 
Man Woman Children 
Kurpal must marry Karilburan Munal and Munalan 
Karilbura „ Kurpalan Kuialla and Kuiallan 
Munal „ Kuiallan Kurpal and Kurpanan 
Kuialla „ Munalan Karilbura & Karilburan 
The first two subdivisions intermarry, but the 
children belong to the third and fourth. In the same 
1257 
way the third and fourth subdivisions intermarry, but 
the children belong to the first and second. In other 
words, a man from the first division marries a girl 
from the second, their children belong to the third and 
must marry into the fourth. 
If these relationships are examined carefully, it 
would be found that the nearest blood relation that 
could marry are first cousins, the children of a brother 
and sister but not of two brothers or two sisters. 
It appears also that under this system it would be 
possible for a man to marry his grandmother, or at 
the other end of life his great grand-daughter. There 
seems to have been no provision made to guard against 
such a happening, but probably these people in their 
wisdom when drawing up their matrimonial laws 
decided that the chances of any man wishing to marry 
his grandmother were as remote as his chances of 
living long enough to be interested in marrying his 
great grand-daughter, and let it go at that. 
All brothers of their father are looked on by the 
children as their father and the wives of each of the 
brothers as mother, but the mother's brothers and 
sisters are accepted as the equivalent of our uncles 
and aunts. 
Naturally, the father and mother found the food 
for themselves and their children, but as the mother 
and children belonged to one subdivision of the tribe 
while the father belonged to another, the father had 
little authority over his children, the real authority 
being with their uncles—their mother's brothers. 
If a man wanted to marry a girl he did not 
approach the father, but went to the mother's brothers. 
All the sisters of these tribal uncles of a man's children 
were also his mothers-in-law, and no man under any 
circumstances ever spoke to or acknowledged the 
presence of a mother-in-law. If by chance they met, 
the mother-in-law would cover herself or squat down 
while the son-in-law looked the other way and ignored 
her. It seems that with these people mothers-in-law 
were much more plentiful and no more popular than 
they are credited with being to-day. 
Some of the older men, mainly the best fighters 
and hunters, used to collect, at times, three or four 
1258 
wives. These were got by various means—by ordinary 
arrangement; by capture; or by barter, but these 
women must always be those from the subdivision from 
which it was permissible for him to take his wife. There 
was only one punishment for the breaking of this tribal 
law—both offending parties were killed when, and if 
caught, which generally was the case. 
With usually a shortage of women some of the 
younger men would try, often with success, to persuade 
one of the younger wives to leave her elderly and 
much-married husband. This was considered quite in 
order, provided the woman was from the correct sub-
division, and also provided that if, when caught, he 
took his chance of the spear throwing from the 
aggrieved husband and his tribal brothers. This meant 
that he had to stand out in the open with only a 
healaman, or small corkwood shield, to protect himself, 
and allow the husband and his tribal brothers to throw 
fighting spears at him. Sometimes the man was badly 
wounded or killed, but mostly he came through with-
out hurt, in which case he kept the woman, honour 
having been satisfied. If the man was killed the hus-
band took back his erring wife and was allowed to deal 
with her as he thought fit. He might kill her, but 
usually a spear through the calf of the leg was con-
sidered sufficient inducement for the lady to stay put 
and not go running about with strange men. 
It is generally thought that the aborigines were 
naturally immoral because their code of morals was so 
different from that of the white man. Really, they 
were strictly moral judged by their own code before 
the white man corrupted them. 
The women of one subdivision were the wives of 
the men of another subdivision so, although married 
to one man, a woman would be doing no wrong in being 
intimate with another man of that subdivision, but 
would be guilty of a crime punishable by death if she 
were intimate with a man of any of the other sub-
divisions. 
A woman called her husband and all the men of 
his subdivision "Nupper," which meant husband. 
1259 
Clothing 
Little clothing was worn by the blacks, but they 
had small aprons spun from the wool pulled from 
opossum skins. The man's apron was a fringe about 
eight inches wide and hanging down about eight inches, 
which was attached to a belt made of long human hair, 
or plaited fibre, A man seldom wore these aprons, but 
would dress up if for any reason he was likely to go 
near the camp of one of his mothers-in-law. 
Women's aprons were made differently from those 
of the men, being made entirely from spun opossum 
fur and went right round the body, the fringe being 
down about five inches in front and two inches at the 
back. V 
Both men and women usually carried a small bag 
under the arm which was supported by a cord over the 
shoulder. These bags and also larger ones were made 
by the women from tough grasses, the cords being 
made from fibrous weeds. 
Fishing 
The coastal blacks were clever fishermen with the 
harpoon and used to get the bigger fish and dugong in 
this way. Using a bark canoe—crazy craft at best— 
these people used to hunt and harpoon the dugong out 
in the bays and go across to the adjacent island. While 
afloat there were no idle moments; the man paddled 
and the woman bailed, using generally a fair-sized 
clam shell—heavy work at best, but a case of bail or 
sink. 
For harpooning the bigger fish the barb used was 
about nine inches long, which fitted into a socket on a 
pole of about twelve feet long. A line was fastened to 
each end of the pole, and from the centre of this line 
the end of another line which was attached to the har-
poon was fastened. When a dugong was struck the 
pole (made from light timber that floats) would fall 
off" and be dragged behind, putting a heavy strain on 
the fish but not enough to pull out the barb. The fisher-
man would follow in his canoe until the dugong was 
exhausted, when it would be finished off, usually by 
1260 
driving plugs in the nostrils so that the fish would 
smother. 
Shallow fresh waterholes were fished by a number 
of the blacks dragging bushes up and down the length 
of the hole, stirring up the mud which brought the fish 
to the surface where they were easily caught with 
small hand nets. 
This Society wishes to encourage the study of Local 
History, and this paper was supplied in response to a request 
to Local Historical Associations for papers to be read at the 
meetings of the Historical Society of Queensland. 


Habits, customs and relationships of the Australian Aboriginals

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