Rachelle Holloway and Dr. David Crandall

The results of receiving this grant was research conducted in Victoria, Australia concerning the marriage systems of Australian Aboriginals. The research was originally intended to be conducted in areas predominantly populated by less Westernized Aboriginals, but there were problems in obtaining this ideal.

Firstly, anthropologists in general are somewhat looked down upon by Aboriginals as they have taken advantage of the native culture in the past. Studying the Aboriginals with the promise of goods and notoriety and leaving before coming through with any of their promises. It is not politically correct in Australia to study the “natives”, the Aboriginals. I do not know the reasons for this but I suspect that it is due to the fact that many Aboriginals are quite Westernized and do not appreciate being studied as “natives” or a “primitive culture”. This is especially true of those who have grown up in the city, as they are just as educated and “civilized” as I am and I suspect this feeling has carried over to those living more true to their culture in the outback, as the urbanized Aboriginals are generally the spokespeople.

Secondly, I had trouble in obtaining my goal as contacts were difficult to establish. In the short time that I had available to do the study it turned out not to be feasible to find a community to study and obtain contacts that would make study of that community possible. The few contacts I had previous to my arrival in Australia were not willing to help me in my goal as they did not approve, for reasons already mentioned.

As a result of the difficulties in reaching the goals of my original study I was forced to adjust the study so that it encompassed as much field research as possible but the majority of the study was turned to the realm of book research. I was, however, able to interview a couple of people that have extensive backgrounds in Aboriginal culture, one of whom is Aboriginal and the other Caucasian, but who has been through the initiation ceremonies of an Aboriginal tribe. From these interviews I learned that I had chosen possibly the most difficult aspect of Aboriginal culture to study. One of my interviewees, Ralph, actually laughed when I asked him to tell me about the marriage systems within his tribe. He said he could not think of anything more difficult to describe, but attempted to explain things in a simplified manner.

In order to research the marriage systems of Aboriginals I spent many hours finding books on Aboriginal communities that had been researched by anthropologists that had gone before me. I read a number of books about different communities, both those that still abided by native traditions and those who lived on reservations and in other settled communities. Throughout my research I tried to stay as true as possible to my original intentions. That is to research the forms and functions of dualism in the institution of marriage among Aboriginals. In addition to this purpose I also wanted to see if there existed differences between those tribes that remained in their original setting, the outback, and those who have been residing on reservations, in closer contact with other tribes than if they had remained on their original lands.

Through my research I encountered an enormous volume of material dealing with my topic of interest. From my interviewees I heard tales of woe, that the destruction of Aboriginal culture has been brought about by Christian missionaries who have intruded and caused irreversible change and irreparable damage to Aboriginals and their culture. He, my interviewee, feels that the establishment of missionary settlements and the changes they have wrought is a travesty. The literature that I have read that is related to missionary settlements seems to support what my interviewee claims. The laws that the missionaries have had enforced in these settlements has caused the culture to degenerate, these laws that I speak of are those concerning marriage. In Aboriginal culture children marry at the ages of nine through twelve. The girl’s marriage is arranged and their partner comes to reside in her parents camp. He makes gifts to the family for a number of years before the girl goes to sleep at his fire. Before the child is handed over to her future husband she receives an education of a practical nature, one that equips her for her role as a wife.

Since the arrival of the missionaries such marriages have been outlawed. Aboriginals are no longer permitted to marry before the age of 16. This has stopped the occurrence of pre-menarchal marriages, the intent of the missionaries, but at the same time has caused numerous sociological problems that were not present in traditional Aboriginal systems. For example female adolescent promiscuity abounds in these settlements. In addition to promiscuity, adolescents choose not to marry their ‘promise’ and often marry or run off with the one they “love”.

I learned much more about Aboriginal marriage systems than can be said here. Such things as the complexities of kinship and marriages between different groups, whether they be class, clan or tribe. Overall my study brought new insight into Aboriginal culture and was worthwhile.