Totems in Victorian Aboriginal Communities: Culture, Kinship, and Identity
Totems are central to the cultural and spiritual life of Aboriginal peoples across Australia. They link individuals, families, and clans to animals, plants, landscapes, and ancestral beings. In Victoria, totems were not just symbolic; they carried responsibilities for ecological care, spiritual practice, and social order. They regulated marriage, reinforced kinship systems, and expressed identity within a broader cultural law, often referred to as Lore (Reynolds, 1987).
This article explores the meaning of totems in Victorian Aboriginal communities, with examples from the Kulin Nations, Gunditjmara, and Yorta Yorta, before situating them within a wider Aboriginal and global context.
What Are Totems?
A totem is a natural object, plant, or animal inherited by members of a clan or family as their spiritual emblem. Each person is born into a totemic relationship that connects them to:
Ancestral beings from the Dreaming.
Animals, plants, or features of Country.
Moieties or clans, forming part of the kinship system.
Totems carried obligations: individuals were responsible for caring for the species, protecting the land associated with it, and observing ceremonial restrictions. In many cases, people could not hunt, kill, or eat their own totem species (Broome, 2005).
Totemic Systems in Victoria
The Kulin Nations
The Kulin Nations of central Victoria—including the Woiwurrung (Wurundjeri), Boonwurrung, Wadawurrung, Taungurung, and Dja Dja Wurrung—organised society through moieties.
The two primary moieties were Bunjil (the wedge-tailed eagle) and Waa (the crow).
Each person inherited one of these moieties, and marriage rules required that Bunjil people married Waa people. This ensured balance and reciprocity between clans (Barwick, 1998).
These moiety systems extended into ceremonial law, seasonal gatherings, and tanderrum (welcome) ceremonies, where visiting groups were granted rights to resources on Country (Broome, 2005).
Cockatoos and Moieties
Within Kulin society, cockatoos also carried moiety significance. White cockatoos, such as the sulphur-crested cockatoo, were associated with the Bunjil moiety, while black cockatoos, such as the yellow-tailed black cockatoo, were linked to Waa. Their contrasting colours mirrored the structural duality of Kulin kinship, reinforcing balance between light and dark, noise and solemnity, and the responsibilities of intermarriage (Clark, 1990).
The Gunditjmara
The Gunditjmara people of south-west Victoria also maintained clan-based totemic identities. Many of these were tied to their unique environment of wetlands, stone channels, and volcanic plains.
The eel (kooyang) was both a staple food and a totemic species, spiritually connected to the Budj Bim aquaculture system, which is now recognised as World Heritage.
Other clans carried plant or animal totems such as yam daisies or kangaroos, guiding both food gathering practices and ceremonial obligations (Clark, 1990).
Breaking obligations tied to kooyang was considered a breach of Lore, since the eel was embedded in spiritual as well as practical life.
The Yorta Yorta
The Yorta Yorta people, whose lands centre on the Murray-Goulburn river systems, also maintained strong totemic ties.
The long-necked turtle and Murray cod were important totems, reflecting deep ecological knowledge of rivers, billabongs, and wetlands.
These totems reinforced responsibilities to protect aquatic ecosystems, particularly breeding grounds, ensuring sustainable harvesting of fish and turtles (Atkinson, 2002).
Yorta Yorta ceremonies reinforced the sacredness of rivers, positioning Dhungala (the Murray River) itself as an ancestor.
Totems Across Aboriginal Australia
Yolŋu (Northern Territory)
The Yolŋu of Arnhem Land divide all beings into two moieties: Dhuwa and Yirritja. Every person, plant, and waterhole belongs to one of these categories. Marriage, ceremony, and songlines are regulated through this system (Morphy, 1991).
Arrernte (Central Desert)
Among the Arrernte, Dreaming totems (Altyerrenge) include kangaroo, witchetty grub, and honey ant. Each person inherits totems from their father’s side and has obligations to maintain ceremonies linked to them (Strehlow, 1971).
Noongar (Western Australia)
The Noongar people call their totems kobong. Families are forbidden from harming or eating their kobong species. For example, one family might be tied to kangaroos, another to certain trees or birds (Moore, 1842/1978).
Torres Strait Islanders
In the Torres Strait, totems are strongly tied to the sea. Shark, turtle, and dugong totems regulate hunting practices and embed cultural respect for marine ecosystems (Sharp, 1993).
Totems and Cultural Responsibilities
Totemic systems were both symbolic and practical. They:
Regulated marriage and kinship, preventing inbreeding.
Structured hunting and gathering, by restricting the use of totem species.
Guided ceremonial life, embedding responsibilities into song, dance, and ritual.
Enforced ecological balance, ensuring sustainability long before modern frameworks (Broome, 2005).
Impacts of Colonisation
Colonisation deeply disrupted totemic systems.
Missions banned ceremonies that upheld totemic law.
Language loss hindered the transmission of totemic knowledge.
Land clearing destroyed habitats, threatening species central to clans.
European legal systems ignored Aboriginal kinship and moiety rules (Reynolds, 1987).
Despite these pressures, many Elders continued to pass on totemic teachings through oral tradition, ensuring survival in secret or adapted forms.
Revival and Modern Practice
Today, totemic renewal is part of cultural resurgence in Victoria and across Australia.
The Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation incorporates moiety and totem teachings into education.
Gunditjmara communities celebrate eel totems through Budj Bim ceremonies.
The Yolŋu continue to embed moieties in bilingual schools and ceremonial life.
Noongar groups revive kobong through environmental projects.
Global Analogies
Totemic systems are not unique to Australia.
North America: First Nations use clan animals such as Bear, Wolf, and Turtle.
Africa: Totems in Zimbabwe and Uganda prohibit harming clan animals.
Polynesia: Hawaiian, Māori, and Samoan traditions link families to totemic ancestors.
These analogies highlight the near-universal role of totemic systems in binding culture, ecology, and spirituality.
Conclusion
Totems are at the heart of Aboriginal cultural identity. In Victoria, the moieties of Bunjil and Waa, the kooyang of Gunditjmara, and the turtle and cod of Yorta Yorta reflect systems that link people, spirit, and Country. Cockatoos—white and black—embody the balance of these systems, just as kinship obligations embody the balance of life itself.
Though colonisation undermined these traditions, revival efforts ensure that totems remain a living framework of culture, responsibility, and belonging. Globally, totems show the deep human instinct to embed law in nature, reminding us that culture and ecology are inseparable.
References
Atkinson, W. (2002). Not One Iota: The Yorta Yorta Struggle for Land Justice. Melbourne: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Barwick, D. (1998). Rebellion at Coranderrk. Canberra: Aboriginal History Monograph.
Blake, B. (1991). Wathawurrung and the Colac Language of Southern Victoria. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Broome, R. (2005). Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Clark, I. (1990). Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900. Melbourne: Monash Publications in Geography.
Moore, G.F. (1842/1978). A Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language in Common Use Amongst the Aborigines of Western Australia. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press.
Morphy, H. (1991). Ancestral Connections: Art and an Aboriginal System of Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Reynolds, H. (1987). The Law of the Land. Ringwood: Penguin.
Sharp, N. (1993). Stars of Tagai: The Torres Strait Islanders. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Strehlow, T. (1971). Songs of Central Australia. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025
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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.