Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia

by Spencer, Baldwin

• ISBN13: 9781108020459
• ISBN10: 1108020453
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-16
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer (1860-1929) was a British Australian biologist and anthropologist, best known for his work amongst the indigenous Aboriginal tribes of Australia. After graduating from Exeter College, Oxford in 1884 Spencer was elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford in 1886 before being appointed the Professor of Biology at the University of Melbourne. In 1911 Spencer was appointed Special Commissioner for Aborigines and undertook fieldwork in the Northern Territories between 1911-1912. This volume, first published in 1914, is the result of his fieldwork. Spencer describes in detail the social customs, kinship structures, marriage ceremonies and religious beliefs of thirteen tribes he encountered in the Northern Territories. Spencer also compares differences and similarities in the religious and social structures of different tribes and includes copious illustrations of religious and political monuments. This volume was the first ethnography of these tribes and provides valuable insights into these societies.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Social organisation and marriage regulations

Initiation ceremonies

Totemic systems and totem groups

Sacred sticks, bull-roarers, and ceremonial objects

Burial and mourning ceremonies

Magic and medicine

Beliefs in regard to the origin of children

Traditions concerning Imberombera, the Great Ancestor, and also other ancestors of the Kakadu nation

Various traditions, customs, and beliefs

Food restrictions

Weapons and implements

Clothing and ornament

Decorative art

Appendix

Glossary of native terms

Index

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