tribe. Inland from the Buandik was the Painchunga, and from the Moatatunga inland the Wiantunga. These are the five tribes referred to.
On the east side the Buandik adjoined the tribes of South-Western Victoria, of which I have very little information, and therefore gladly avail myself of the account given of them by the late Mr. Dawson,[1] to complete as far as possible the account of Victorian tribes, and especially those of the coast. The only tribe of South-Western Victoria of which I have a personal knowledge is a small one called the Gournditch-mara, whose headquarters were at Gournditch or Lake Condah, and they belonged to a nation calling themselves Mara, "men," which extended from the southern limits of the Muk-jarawaint to the sea, and from Mount Gambler to the Eumerella Creek, and included the Kuurn-kopan-noot and Peek-whuurong tribes described by Mr. Dawson. The Gournditch-mara[2] were, it seems, divided into four sections, Kerup ("water"), Boom ("mountain"), Direk ("swamp"), and Gilger ("river"), an arrangement not influencing marriage, and appearing to be merely one of the local designations. It may be compared with the Sea-coasters, Tree-climbers, and Mountaineers of the Yuin tribes. In the Gournditch-mara there was descent in the female line, that is, the child took the class-name and totem of his mother, but belonged to the local division of its father, and spoke his language.
The area occupied by the tribes described by Mr. Dawson may be roughly defined as lying between Portland, Colac, Ararat, and possibly Pitfield.
It seems that there were at least ten languages, or perhaps more correctly dialects, and it is reasonable to assume that there was the same number of tribes. The tribal territory was divided between its members, and each family had the exclusive right by inheritance to a part of
- ↑ Australian Aborigines, James Dawson. Robertson, Melbourne, 1881.
- ↑ Rev. J. H. Stähle. The Gournditch-mara recognised neighbouring tribes as friends because they were also "mara"; and on referring to Mr. Dawson's vocabulary I find that "maar" is given for "aboriginal man" in the Peek-whuurong dialect to the south and the Kuurn-kopan-noot to the east of the Gournditch-mara.
