ABSTRACT
Since Fison and Howitt published in 1880 their Kamilaroi and Kumai, the social organization of the aboriginal tribes of Australia has received a great deal of attention from anthropologists, and the literature on the subject is now very extensive. That literature has given currency to a number of misconceptions. The present paper is an attempt to indicate as concisely as possible what that organization really is, and to give a summary of the existing knowledge about it. It is intended to serve as an introduction to new researches which are now in progress, and the results of which will be published in due course.
