Item 02: Kamilaroi, and other Australian Languages, by Rev. William Ridley, 2nd ed. (Sydney, 1875) - Page 173

[Page 173]
 

LAWS OF MARRIAGE AND DESCENT.

ALL Kamilaroi blacks, and many other tribes, as far at least as Wide Bay in Queensland and the Maranoa, are from their birth divided into four classes, distinguished in Kamilaroi by the following names.  In some families all the children are "ippai" and "ippatha"; in others they are "murri" (not "murri" the general name for Australian Aborigines) and "matha"; in others "kubbi" and "kubbotha"; and in a fourth class of families "kumbo" and "būtha." The families take rank in this order:–Murri, Kumbo, Ippai, Kubbi. Besides this division into four classes, there is another division, founded on the names of animals, as bundar (kangaroo), dinoǔn (emu), dūlī (iguana), nurai (black snake), mūtě (opossum), murriira (padymelon), bilba (bandicoot). 
 
In the four classes there are on the Namoi ten divisions. They are–I (1), Murri and Matha Duli, (2) M. and M. murriira; II (3), Kumbo and Būtha Dinoun, (4) K. and B. Nurai; III (5), Ippai and Ippatha Dinoun, (6) I. and I. Nurai, (7) I. and I Bilba; IV (8) Kubbi and Kubbotha Mute, (9) K. and K. Murriira, (10) K. and K. Duli. (In some parts there are additional subdivisions.) Ten rules of marriage are established in relation to these divisions:–

I. Murri Duli may marry Matha Murriira, and any Butha.

II. Murri Murriira may marry Matha Duli, and any Butha.

III. Kumbo Dinoun may marry Butha Nurai, and any Matha.

IV. Kumbo Nurai may marry Butha Dinoun, and any Matha.

V. Ippai Dinoun may marry Ippatha Nurai, Kubbotha Duli, and Kubbotha Murriira.

VI. Ippai Nurai may marry Ippatha Dinoun and Kubbotha Mute.

VII. Ippai Bilba may marry Ippatha Nurai and Kubbotha Murriira.

VIII. Kubbi Mute may marry Kubbotha Duli and Ippatha Dinoun.

IX. Kubbi Murriira may marry Kubbotha Mute and Ippatha Nurai.

X. Kubbi Duli may marry Kubbotha Murriira and Ippatha Bilba.

The rules of descent are these : –

I. The second name, or the totem, of the sons and daughters is always the same as their mother's.

II. The children of a Matha are Kubbi and Kubbotha.

III. The children of a Butha are Ippai and Ippatha.

IV. The children of an Ippatha are Kumbo and Butha

V. The children of a Kubbotha are Murri and Matha.

Thus the mother's names, not the father's, determine the names of the child in every case