ABSTRACT
Kunwinjku describe the successive revelation of knowledge about the ancestral world as a progression from understanding the 'outside' meaning of things to understanding the 'inside' meaning. 'Outside' meanings are those considered to be comparatively obvious and are learned in the context of daily life in the public realm. On the other hand, 'inside' meanings relate to the actions of the ancestral beings who are understood to have created features of landscape and instituted the ceremonial practices of today's human groups. Access to 'inside' knowledge is restricted and revealed by older men to younger men as part of the initiatory structure of male ceremonial. The controlled transmission of such 'inside' or esoteric knowledge about the ancestral beings is a primary means of demonstrating power relations and maintaining social control amongst Aboriginal groups (Keen 1977, 1978, Myers 1980, Morphy 1985).
