Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00002:front:0:p8
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00002
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 22840–25731

Ancestors came in many forms. The Rainbow Snake (Almudj/Alyod in Gundjeihmi and Bolung in Jawoyn) is a spiritual being of great significance in Aboriginal culture in Kakadu. Other ancestral beings include Bula (important creator), Namarrgon (Lightning Man) and Warramurrungundji (Earth Mother). The landscape and its features were left by the Creation Ancestors. They instituted and created ceremonies, rules to live by, laws, plants, animals and people, then they turned into djang (dreaming places and their spiritual essence). They taught Aboriginal people how to live with the land, and from then on Aboriginal people became keepers of their country.
   'We Aboriginal people have obligations to care for our country, to look after djang, to communicate with our ancestors when on country and to teach all of this to the next generations.'
Combined statement from the Aboriginal members of the
Kakadu National Park Board of Management

Kinship

Every aspect of life and the responsibilities for looking after country is governed by kinship ties. Aboriginal languages have special linguistic features that eloquently express these ties and responsibilities.

Aboriginal society is organised into many kinds of social divisions. All people, plants, animals, places, weather, landscapes and ceremonies are divided into halves or moieties: the patrilineal moieties Duwa and Yirridjdja, and the matrilineal moieties Mardku and Ngarradjku.

Each moiety is subdivided into four pairs of subsections or 'skin groups', and a child's skin group is determined by that of their mother. Skin groups are used in regulating marriages and addressing or referring to Aboriginal people in culturally appropriate ways.

Each clan and moiety has a number of clan totems and emblems. Sacred sites and other special places on each clan estate are the focus of religious life. If the totem is a plant or animal that is relied upon as a food source, then members of the owning clan traditionally had responsibilities to ensure a plentiful supply.

Clan estates and traditional owners

Kakadu includes the traditional lands of a number of Aboriginal clan groups.
   'Land and people go together. Every place has a clan name, and every place has a clan.'
Jacob Nayinggul, Manilikar clan
In English the term 'traditional owner' is commonly used to refer to someone who is a member of the clan associated with a particular clan estate. The term has a particular meaning under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Land Rights Act). In the Kakadu area primary responsibility to land is determined according to traditional Aboriginal law and custom and involves making important decisions about the management of country such as protecting resources and sacred sites. While a person belongs to the clan of their father they still have responsibilities to their mother's clan estate. Both men and