Tribes with the Two-Class System and Male Descent
On the eastern side of the Wotjobaluk and the tribes described by Mr. Dawson, which together occupy western Victoria, there was the Kulin nation described in the last chapter. Very little has been recorded as to the class organisation of this nation, and all that I have been able to preserve has been obtained from the few survivors of the Wurunjerri. Thagunworung, and Galgalbaluk tribes which are now practically extinct. As to the other tribes of the nation, all that I can say is that they had the two class names, and that no totems were known to my informants other than the one given below:—
| Classes. | Totems. | ||
| Bunjil | eagle-hawk | Thara | small hawk |
| Waang | crow | No totem | |
I must here draw a distinction between the Kulin nation and a number of other tribes with these class names, the languages of which differed in so far that their word for "man" was not Kulin.
Even then a further important distinction comes into view arising out of the local organisation. The class names Bunjil and Waang are common to all with slight variation; for instance, with the Jajaurung the word Wrepil replaces Bunjil, both meaning eagle-hawk. The extent to which the class names occurred over Victoria may be roughly indicated by the extreme points known to me. North to south, from Echuca to the Port Phillip Heads, and east to west, from St. Arnaud to Mount Buffalo, being 170 miles by 200 miles at least. All these tribes, as far as I have been able to ascertain, had descent through the male line; but in the northern tribes, as for instance the Bangerang, the people who were respec-
