Among some Aboriginal groups, at least, marriages were often polygynous (with a husband having two or more wives): a wife, on the other hand, would have only one husband at a time, although usually she would be married to several husbands in succession, as the former husband died or the marriage broke up.
Although most men had only one wife at a time, polygyny was considered both legitimate and good. The average number of wives in polygynous unions was 2 or 3. The maximum in the Great Sandy Desert was 5 or 6; among the Tiwi, 29; among the Yolngu, 20 to 25, with many men having 10 to 12.
Aboriginal customary marriage, as Professor Berndt puts it, "is not just a union between two individual persons, but the linking together of two families in a special kind of relationship" (1962: 335).
The traditional Indigenous family structure is significantly different to the Western view of a family unit. Where as many non-Indigenous people live within a nuclear family unit, Aboriginal people value an extended family system, which often includes quite distant relatives.
Aboriginal kinship relations reflect a complex and dynamic system and define where a person fits into their family and community. The value of the kinship system is that it structures people's relationships, obligations and behaviours towards each other.
by Keira de Hoog. Yolngu have a complicated kinship structure that involves both 'care' and 'avoidance' relationships between family members that must be adhered to. Avoidance relationships can be with people much older or much younger, and are put in place for reasons of respect or protection from things like incest.
Unlike the non-indigenous surname system, husbands and wives in Aboriginal communities don't share the same Skin Name, and children don't share their parents' name. Rather, it is a sequential system.
In many Indigenous families, aunties are the matriarchs who carry forward our traditions. Though the moniker “Native auntie” is more of a term of endearment for Indigenous elders. They can be your literal aunts, a close family friend, or a respected figure in your community.
These are usually made up of clan groups. Within the clan group, you will find families who share a common language and system of kinship. Traditional Aboriginal Peoples' families were constructed of a collaboration of clan groups. We now call these 'extended families'.
Today there are increasing numbers of 'wrong skin' marriages, in which people who would traditionally be prevented from marrying become partners. A result is families attempting to accommodate the contradictions this presents for the kinship system and wider relationships.
For a Customary Marriage to be valid, the following requirements must be fulfilled: Consent of Parents and guardian of the bride and Consent between the parties to marry each other. This consent must be given before celebration of the Marriage.
In some communities men and women are elders with equal standing; in others it may be a few men who hold that status. Elders are usually addressed with "uncle" or "aunty" which in this context are terms of respect. They are used for people held in esteem, generally older people who have earned that respect.
Polygamy is a situation where a person has more than one marriage at the same time. In Australia it is a criminal offence known as bigamy to knowingly get married when a person is already legally married. However, polygamy is legal in many countries.
Polygamy is currently illegal in Australia as it necessarily entails the crime of bigamy, which is defined as entering into a marriage with someone while already being legally married to another.
Polygamy (from Late Greek πολυγαμία (polugamía) "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny.
"Aborigine"
'Aborigine' is a noun for an Aboriginal person (male or female).
Aboriginal people refer to an Elder as 'Aunty' or 'Uncle'. However, it is recommended that non-Aboriginal people check the appropriateness of their use of these terms as referring to an Elder or leader as Aunty or Uncle may not be appropriate for an outsider unless a strong relationship has been established.
An elder has been defined as "someone who has gained recognition as a custodian of knowledge and lore, and who has permission to disclose knowledge and beliefs". They may be male or female, and of any age, but must be trusted and respected by their community for their wisdom, cultural knowledge and community service.
Not even AncestryDNA, which has amassed more than 10 million samples, has enough to offer a “direct estimate of Aboriginal Australian ethnicity”. This means Aboriginal ancestors can only be reliably detected through direct maternal or paternal lines (using mitochondrial and Y-chromosome tests).
One of the researchers, the geneticist Dr Ray Tobler, said the samples meant Aboriginal ancestry could now be genetically traced back in time to a point that pre-dated European colonisation, when Aboriginal people were still living in their traditional areas, supporting what the archeological evidence already shows.
The DNA sequences showed that the ancestors of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans had then split from Europeans and Asians by at least 51,000 years ago. By comparison, the ancestors of Europeans and Asians only became genetically distinct from each other roughly 10,000 years later.
Assimilationist terms such as 'full-blood,' 'half-caste' and 'quarter-caste' are extremely offensive and should never be used when referring to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
In Aboriginal culture it is taboo to mention (or in some cases write) the name of a deceased person. Aboriginal people believe that if the deceased person's name is mentioned, the spirit is called back to this world.
In what is the strongest kinship avoidance rule, some Australian Aboriginal customs ban a person from talking directly to their mother-in-law or even seeing her. A mother-in-law also eats apart from her son-in-law or daughter-in-law and their spouse.