The kinship system used at Barunga and Wugularr is one of the most complex recorded anywhere in the world. The basic principle is that of moieties. There are two moieties, Duwa and Yirritja. Duwa moiety is associated with dark colours, such as red and black, and things that are long. Yirritja moiety is associated with light colours, such as red and yellow, and things that are short. All things in the world are given moiety—people, animals, land—and in a balanced world moieties are ‘in company’. Therefore a man from one should marry a woman from the other moiety. So, a Duwa man should marry a Yirritja woman, and vice versa. Similarly, Duwa country will be looked after by a Yirritja custodian.
However, the kinship system is even more complex than this. Moieties are divided into sections and subsections. At Barunga, people tend to use Ngalkbon kinship terms, even though it is Jawoyn land. The Ngalkbon system has 16 subsections. Eight of these are Duwa and eight are Yirritja. Eight are for men and eight are for women. These subsections govern all social relationships – who people can marry, who helps whom in ceremony, who is your mother and father. The person’s ‘skin’ (subsection) is inherited through the mother while clan lands are inherited primarily through the father.
The Jawoyn system is a little easier as it has only eight subsections.
