Indigenous People of the Kimberley

The social organisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders language groups and communities is extremely complex. Many people have tried to document these clan and family relationships in many ways. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission describes these relationships in the following way.

The language groups were composed of several clans. Each clan, through religious law was responsible for a certain area of land. It was through clan membership that individuals gained their special links with the land. All the people in a clan belonged to the same descent groups (either patrilineal or matrilineal). Members of the same clan could not marry one another, so a person's mother and father would have come from different clans.

The people who came together to live or hunt or gather food did not necessarily belong to the same clan. These groups, often referred to as bands or communities, usually consisted of one or more families depending on climate and available resources.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people often refer to these relationships as kin relationships. One who is kin could be related by blood or family relation.
Kinship systems define where a person fits in to the community, binding people together in relationships of sharing and obligation. These systems may vary across communities but they serve similar functions across Australia.

Kinship defines roles and responsibilities for raising and educating children and structures systems of moral and financial support within the community.

Elders bridge the past and the present and provide guidance for the future. They teach important traditions and pass on their skills, knowledge and personal experiences. It is for these reasons that in indigenous societies elders are treated with respect.