Territory we seem to recognise Welu (curlew). Koolpuru
(emu), Yungaru and Yungo (kangaroo), and Wutheroo (emu) are also
possible meanings.

The problems raised by the phratriac nomenclature are complex and
probably insoluble. They are in part bound up with the problem of the
origin of the organisation itself; of this nature, for example, is the
question whether the names correspond to anything existing in the
pre-phratriac stage, or whether the organisation was borrowed and the
names taken over translated or untranslated into the idiom of the
borrowers. If the latter be the solution, we have a simple explanation
of the wide-spread Eaglehawk-Crow system as well as of other facts, to
which reference is made below.

If on the other hand the names have not been much spread by
borrowing,--and the increasing number of small phratry areas known to us
tells in favour of this, though it also suggests that the widely-found
systems have gained ground at the expense of their neighbours,--then we
obviously need some theory as to the origin of the organisation, before
we can frame any hypothesis as to the origin of the names.

The prominent part, however, played by the Eaglehawk among phratry names
raises some questions which can be discussed on their merits. One of
these is the age of phratry names. Some of the earliest records of
initiation ceremonies in New South Wales mention that the eaglehawk
figured in them[101]. In West Australia this bird is the demiurge, and
the progenitors of the phratries, of which crow is one, are his nephews.
This is not the only case in which these birds figure in mythology.

As the Rev. John Mathew has pointed out in his work, _Eaglehawk and
Crow_, there are found in Australia, especially in the south-eastern
portion, a number of myths relating to the conflicts of these birds.
These myths he interprets as echoes of a long-past conflict between the
aboriginal Negrito race and the invading Papuans, and traces the origin
of the phratries to the same racial strife. As an explanation of exogamy
the hypothesis is clearly insufficient, but it is evident that no theory
of the origin of the phratries can leave exogamy out of the question.
The point, however, with which we are immediately concerned is the myth
on which in the main Mr Mathew based his theory. Unfortunately, he did
not think it necessary to attempt to define either the area covered by
the different phratry names--an omission which is remedied