Social Organisation Between Language Groups

There are many Indigenous groups all over Australia, each group historically spoke a different language or dialect.

Social Organisation between Aboriginal language groups

These groups can also speak the language of the neighbouring language group/s as well as their own.Various ceremonies and rituals draw groups together from different areas. Trade initiations, marriages and other ceremonies saw some language groups forming political and trade alliances. Other language groups were at war and evidence of this remains today in some areas. Alliances between these changed and developed over many thousands of years.

Many Aboriginal people believe that the systems that exist between various language groups were created by significant Ancestral Beings. Although each language group may have had different names for these Beings, the central belief of the creation of language and language boundaries remains the same.

The social structure between language groups dictates:

- How and when and where trade was to occur
- How when and where passage across territorial boundaries could occur
- How and when and where meetings and ceremonies would be held
- Who were the key persons providing the cross cultural link between language groups.

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