Yuin

Yuin people had, and in many cases still have, spiritual, mutual relationships with an aspect of the natural world. These spiritual connections are represented by animals, and these connections come with obligations and relationships, not just to the animal but to other humans and to places and things associated with that animal.[20]

Anthropologist Alfred William Howitt briefly described Yuin spiritual connections with animals in 1904, in The native tribes of south-east Australia.[21] Howitt, and other early ethnographers, used the Ojibwe term "totem" to describe these spiritual connections, as they saw commonalities between Aboriginal Australian spiritual connections to animals and those of First Nations and Native Americans.[22] The term is not widely used by Yuin[23] and the term "totemism" is not well-regarded by them,[24] but Yuin authors often use the term "totem" in works for wider audiences.[25][26][27][28][29]

Yuin believe these spiritual animals to have been made in the Dreamtime by an ancestral creator, although not all spiritual animals have Dreamtime stories associated with them (or those stories have been lost).[30] Dreamtime stories for the creation of the diving birds and the black swan are recorded by Susan Dale Donaldson.[31]

The best known Yuin spiritual animals are the Pacific Black Duck (Umbarra) and the Black Swan.[20] The Black Duck was the moojingarl of King Merriman, who is named Umbarra after it, and a duck-shaped island in Wallaga Lake is named Merriman Island.[32] Umbarra was believed to communicate with black ducks, who would warn him of danger.[32]

In 2003, Rose, James and Watson identified six levels of "interacting beings" spoken of by the Yuin, also described as "families within families" by Yuin woman Mary Duroux. The six families described (and, in brackets, the alternative terms used by Yuin elder Randall Mumbler) are:[33][34]

1. Beings interacting with the Yuin nation ("tribal totem")
2. Beings interacting with tribes or named groups (N/A);
3. Beings interacting with families (operating like clans) ("family totem");
4. Beings interacting with skin groups (N/A);
5. Initiation totems and names ("ceremonial totem");
6. Beings interacting with specific individuals ("personal totem"; also called "individual totem" or moojingarl in other sources).

A Yuin's responsibilities to these beings, and their responsibilities to that Yuin, varied depending on the level of the relationship. For example, while a Yuin is expected to protect animals of their moojingarl,[35] Guboo Ted Thomas described no obligation to protect the black duck as his relationship with it was only on a "nation" level.[36]

Donaldson also briefly mentions "gender totems".[34]

Some animals, including the Black Duck, can have spiritual connections with Yuin at any of these levels.[37] Yuin typically do not eat animals with which they have a spiritual connection, which are considered part of their extended family[35] – restrictions which may extend to related animals (all ducks, for example, because of the Black Duck connection).[38]

Yuin elder Randall Mumbler describes the significance of the different levels of connection:[39]

There are personal, family, tribal, and ceremonial totems. The ceremonial totem gives you status if you've been through the law, the tribal totem connects you with everyone in your tribe, the family totem connects you with your family and the personal totem is your best mate

Susan Dale Donaldson has assembled a preliminary list of Yuin spiritual connections, consisting of 20 birds, two marine animals (bream and whale), seven terrestrial mammals and three reptiles.[40]

The Black Duck is the symbol for the Yuin people, and may be particularly significant for Yuin who may not have a moojingarl or do not know their family's spiritual connection due to dispossession and assimilation.[41][36] Yuin have a spiritual connection (but not a "totem" one) with Mount Gulaga, believed to be the origin of the Yuin. From Gulaga, Merriman Island is visibly duck-shaped.[42]

Genealogist and researcher Dave Tout, a relative of King Merriman, has identified at least four groups and their spiritual connection:[43]

• Wadthi-Wadthi (northern group): Lyrebird
• Wadthi-Wadthi (southern group): Spotted owl
• Yeerimbine (south of Twofold Bay): Killer whale
• Wandian (Mount Sassafrass): Eagle

In 1904, the ethnologist Howitt described Yuin "totems" as patrilineal (i.e. inherited from the father), and gave budjan, mura and jimbir as Yuin terms for these "totems".[22] Errors in Howitt's account that have been identified by contemporary Yuin include his use of budjan for "totem" (it just means "bird") and that inheritance was only patrilineal, as there is also matrilineal inheritance of family connections.[44]

Marriage should be exogamous between family groups, as determined by the spiritual connections of those families. However, these family connections are no longer a "a strong element" of contemporary Yuin kinship.[43] To the extent that they are known, family spiritual connections are inherited, and there are still some Yuin families associated with certain animals.[43] Many family connections are with birds – in which case they may be called "family birds".[45]

Multiple Yuin have described a system of "skin groups" (subsets of language groups) that would "govern social behaviours and interaction, determining those with whom individuals can (and cannot) talk, marry, trade, as well as identifying their natural enemies". However, most Yuin these days are "not familiar with this level of the system".[43]

Howitt described a "medicine man" bestowing a "second totem" (additional to a family "totem") on a Yuin man at his initiation. Contemporary Yuin describe the process as a "discussion" between elder and initiand about which animal is personally significant, rather than a bestowal, and variously describe the spiritual connection as a "secret" or "ceremonial" one, or as a "personal" one.[46]

Donaldson says that ceremonial connections are earned by Yuin who "attain a certain ritual status".[47] Many ceremonial relationships are with fish.[47] Ceremonial connections are associated to the "specialised powers" that "clever people" have, such as Umbarra's power to turn into a whirlwind.[48]

Yuin women may receive up to four new names during their spiritual training. The first two level names are open but the third and fourth are secret. However, unlike other kinship relationships described here, the names are not those of animals; examples include plant names, sacred place names, spirit women names and the word for "female warrior".[46]

The Yuin word for a personal spiritual connection with an animal, moojingarl, literally means "my friend" (from moodji, friend, and gaarl, my) and involves reciprocity with that animal and a place or places where it is commonly found.[42] Yuin typically do not marry people with connections to the same personal or family beings.[38]

A moojingarl is believed to "appear" unexpectedly, with its behaviour variously indicating approval, that all is well or that danger approaches.[49] A person's "spirit" is expected to return to their moojingarl, so the appearance of a dolphin may remind viewers of a relative whose moojingarl was the dolphin.[42] A moojingarl is believed to reveal itself to a Yuin person, rather than be chosen for them.[50]

King Merriman described to Howitt that his black duck budjan ("bird", translated by Howitt as "totem") resided in his breast, and that if it were killed, Merriman would die as well. Merriman describes an attack by a person of the lace-lizard "totem", who sent a lace-lizard to crawl down Merriman's throat; it almost managed to eat the budjan in his breast.[51]

Yuin elder Harrison says that your "personal totem" is "whatever comes near you when you are born".[35]

Some Yuin believe in "messenger birds" or "mail birds", who are believed to communicate with their calls. Mopokes calling from a particular direction indicate that people are approaching from a particular direction (if they sing "fast and happy") or that a death occurred in the direction from which they are coming (if they call while slowly approaching from a distance).[52] Willie wagtails deliver bad news, like the death of a loved one, and swans flying north indicate approaching storms.[52] Yuin woman Eileen Morgan identifies four messenger birds (curlews, mail-birds, black ducks and owls), but also two mammals (black dogs and black wallabies).[53]

When angered, "wind birds" (perhaps whip birds) are believed to make the west wind blow by whistling.[52]

Some Yuin believe in dulagal (also rendered doolagarl) or "hairy man", a powerful being that lives on Mount Gulaga or in the bush between Bermagui and Mumbulla, but travels down to the coast. Guboo Ted Thomas describes him as having red eyes, no neck and a long forehead, and walking "from side to side". Yuin children were warned not to stray from the campsite for fear of dulagal, and he was said to be able to draw people to him or put them to sleep, and to imitate bird sounds. People could escape dulagal by burning green bush leaves. Yuin woman Eileen Morgan (and a sister of Thomas) associates dulagal with the yowie, although that particular term was not used by the Yuin.[54][55]