Totems, moieties, and kinship: Australian First Nations societies
The First Nations people of Australia had lived on the land for at least 65,000 years, which made them the world’s oldest living culture.
During this time, they had created a different kind of society that often focused on the bond between people and nature.
How First Nations societies were structured
At the centre of First Nations life had been social systems which included families and clans, along with larger kinship groups.
Such groups weren’t about who was related to whom. Instead, they decided how people related to each other and the world around them.
Most First Nations peoples had usually lived in small groups of extended families or clans, which had been connected by both kinship and spiritual bonds.
Groups like these had often travelled around their traditional lands to find food and water, along with other resources they might have needed.
They had often known a great deal about their local environment, and their social customs had been closely tied to nature, which had influenced their cultural customs.
Within each community, there had typically been leaders or elders who had been respected for their wisdom and experience.
Such leaders had often made decisions on behalf of the group and had settled disagreements, which had helped maintain order.
They had often been supported by other skilled people, such as healers and hunters, as well as people who held spiritual knowledge.
Moieties had been an important social system found in many First Nations communities and they had often been called 'skin groups'.
The term had come from the Latin word for 'half', and here it had described a system where society, and often the natural world, had been divided into two halves that worked together.
So, in each community, everyone had usually been divided into two groups. Each group had been given responsibilities that helped support each other and the land around them.
Which of the two groups you were in had usually been determined by which half a person's mother was in, depending on the community.
In many communities, members of your group had been considered to be as close as your own family, and there had been certain responsibilities and rules you had to follow.
For example, in some communities, members of one moiety had been required to marry members of the other moiety.
The importance of totems
Totems were another important social system which had been found in many First Nations communities.
A totem was like a special symbol for a clan, which had connected the group closely to the land and its creatures in a clear way.
Totems like these could be animals, plants, or natural features such as rocks or waterholes.
Members of a clan or family group had often been believed to have a spiritual connection with their totem and they had needed to be respected and protected.
In some communities, marriage laws said that people could not marry someone with the same totem.
How knowledge was passed down
One clear feature of First Nations culture was the way knowledge had passed from one generation to the next.
Since they did not have written books or the internet, they had mainly used oral traditions: stories, songs, dances, and art.
These had been important ways to teach the next generation about their laws, responsibilities to the land, seas, waterways, sky, and universe, and the detailed kinship systems.
To them, the land had been a place to live, but it had also been a living being and it had its own rights.
Therefore, each clan had its territory which was clearly defined, whether it was on land or sea, and it had needed to be cared for.
Such territories had often had their own rules and systems, and there had been land tenure systems which were rules about land use and they had decided who could use which part of the land and when.
Finally, if the land you were on did not have all of the resources you needed, then you had often been able to trade with other communities for items like ochre, along with medicine or trepang, which was a sea cucumber.
