ABSTRACT
The people of the Lake Eyre Basin, unlike Western Desert people, had a matrilineal moiety system. According to this system a person inherits from his mother what he is, what he has as his essential 'flavour', his mardu, or as they say his 'meat' among Maljangapa and people further to the east. Senior men and senior women belonging to a mardu are thidna-marduka 'foot flavour bosses': they, both men and women alike, represent the embodiment of the Ancestors involved. The missionaries at Killalpaninna were paternalistic in the extreme, and they clearly expected Aboriginal society to be the same, but even they were aware of women taking part in ritual. Because of their role in the ritual, women had access to practically all ceremonial and ancestral sites in Wangkangurru traditions. At certain times however, during the performance of secret sections of the ritual they were not permitted.
