3. Kinship

There are three levels of kinship in Australian Indigenous societies: Moiety, Totem and Skin Names.

A person's Moiety can be determined by their mother's side (matrilineal) or their father's side (patrilineal). Moieties can also alternate between each generation (people of alternate generations are grouped together).

People who share the same Moiety are considered siblings, meaning they are forbidden to marry. They also have a reciprocal responsibility to support each other.

The second level of kinship is Totem. Each person has at least four Totems which represent their nation, clan and family group, as well as a personal Totem. Nation, clan and family Totems are preordained, whereas personal Totems recognise an individual’s strengths and weaknesses.

Totems link a person to the universe - to air, water and geographical features. People don’t ‘own’ their Totems, rather they are accountable for them. Each person has a responsibility to ensure that their Totems are protected and passed on to the next generation.

Totems are split between Moieties to create a balance of use and protection. For example, while members of one Moiety protect and conserve the animal, members of the other Moiety may eat and use the animal.

The third level of kinship is the Skin Name. Like a surname, a Skin Name indicates a person’s blood line. It also conveys information about how generations are linked and how they should interact.

Unlike surnames, husbands and wives don’t share the same Skin Name, and children don’t share their parents’ name. Rather, it is a sequential system, so Skin Names are given based on the preceding name (the mother’s name in a matrilineal system or the father’s name in a patrilineal system) and its level in the naming cycle.

Each nation has its own Skin Names and each name has a prefix or suffix to indicate gender. There are 16-32 sets of names in each cycle. For example, in a matrilineal nation, if a woman with the first name in the cycle (One) has a baby, the child’s Skin Name will be the second name in the cycle (Two). All other ‘Twos’ in that community are now considered the sibling of that child, and all ‘Ones’ are considered their parents. When that child grows up and has children of their own, those children will be Threes. This sequential naming continues until the end of the number cycle is reached, then it begins again at One.

For further explanation of kinship structures go to the following YouTube videos:

An Example of Aboriginal Kinship Systems:

Country Kinship and Identity:

Family and Kinship: