Noongars | Family

The Michaels Family, Pingelly, 1938 The Worrall Family, Perth, 1951 No further reproduction of the copies may be made for any purpose without the written permission of the families.

Family is at the heart of Noongar culture. Our family trees are vast. Noongar ancestral connections are like an intricate system of roots, reaching back to the Dreaming or Nyitting. Our people are connected by kinships, the way stars in the sky form intricate constellations, connecting points together to form a unique shape.

Noongar families are different from the Western 'nuclear family'. Although they tend to be large, Noongar families are close-knit. It's as though relations are a step closer. Noongar people have more than one mother and father, more brothers and sisters than just our biological siblings. For instance:

Western	Noongar
Maternal Aunty	Mother
Great-Aunt (Grandmother's sister)	Nan/Grandmother
Cousins	Brothers and sisters
Second Cousins	Cousins

Noongar parents often reverse roles when talking to our children. A mother may call her child 'mum' or a grandmother will call her grand-children 'grannies'. This shows that parent and child, grandparent and grandchild are equal, connected by a reciprocal relationship.

When Noongar people were forced to live a semi-nomadic lifestyle, moving to follow work, families stayed together. This cohesion was further entrenched by a collective fear of the police or the Welfare Department coming to take children away. Families shared their meagre wealth, whether it was rations, cooked damper or stew, or just a campfire, a blanket, or a story.