Noongar kin systems facts for kids

The Noongar people are an Indigenous Australian group from Western Australia. Their traditional laws included a special system for understanding family connections, called a kinship system. This system helped them know who was related to whom, how property was passed down, and who could marry whom. It was a very important part of their society.

Types of Noongar Kinship

Experts have divided the Noongar kinship systems into four main types. These types show how different Noongar groups organized their families and communities.

Perth Region System

• This system used matrilineal moieties and matrilineal clans.
• Matrilineal means that children belonged to their mother's group.
• A moiety is one of two main groups that divide an entire community.
• This system was used by groups like the Amangu, Yued, Wadjuk, Pinjareb, Wilmen, Ganeang, and Wardandi.

People in these groups were part of either the Manitjmat (White Cockatoo) or Wardungmat (Australian Raven) moiety. Children always joined their mother's moiety. Both moieties were exogamous, meaning people had to marry someone from the other moiety, not their own.

Bibelmen Region System

• This system used patrilineal moieties and patrilineal local descent groups.
• Patrilineal means that children belonged to their father's group.
• A local descent group is a group of people who trace their family line back to a common ancestor in a specific area.

These groups also used the Manitjmat and Wardunmat moieties. However, they decided which moiety a child belonged to through the father's side.

Nyakinyaki Region System

• This system had section levels, which are like "skin" groups.
• It also used patrilineal local descent groups.
• This system was found among the Balardong and Nyakinyaki groups.

These groups used Birranga (Bee-eater) and Djuak (Sacred Kingfisher) as their "skin" groups.

Wudjari Region System

• This system was similar to the Nyakinyaki system.
• It included named patrilineal totemic descent units.
• A totemic descent unit is a group linked to a specific animal, plant, or natural feature.
• This system was used by the Goreng and Wudjari groups.

Understanding Key Terms

Local Descent Groups

Local descent groups are usually patrilineal, meaning members are connected through their fathers. They also share stories and links to a named ancestor. These groups always practice exogamy, so members must marry outside their group. They are also connected to specific lands that they look after together.

Totemic Descent Groups

Totemic descent groups are similar to local descent groups. However, the animal or plant they are named after is much more important in their myths and stories. Members might not be directly related by family, but they share this strong totemic connection. These groups are almost always exogamous.

• In patrilineal totemic groups, the land is always very important.
• In matrilineal totemic groups, the land is less important because women often move to their husband's area.

Moieties

Moieties are two separate categories that divide everyone in the world. They are always exogamous, meaning you must marry someone from the other moiety. Moieties can be determined by either the father's side (patrilineal) or the mother's side (matrilineal).

Alternate Generation Levels

This system groups people so that grandparents and grandchildren are in the same "generation level." Parents and their children would also share a generation level. In this system, marriage is endogamous, meaning people marry within their own group or level.

Sectional Systems (Skin Names)

Sectional systems, often called "skin" names, are usually one of four named groups a person belongs to from birth. Sometimes, outsiders can also be given a "skin" name as adults. These groups are always exogamous.

Daisy Bates, an early observer of Aboriginal culture, noted that under the Noongar system, children were in the same class as their mother. No Noongar person was allowed to marry someone from their own class. Some of these classes were:

• Ballaroke
• Tdondarup
• Ngotak
• Nagarnook
• Nogonyuk
• Mongalung
• Narrangur

Early visitors to Noongar lands sometimes found these family and class systems confusing. For example, George Grey mistakenly thought the class names were like family names. Also, a Noongar person might call any relative of the same generation and class their "brother" or "sister." Similarly, any older woman of the same class could be called "mother." This showed how strong their kinship bonds were.

See also

In Spanish: Clasificación Noongar para niños