1 Marriage Networks, Descent Clusters and Native Title Claims

The use of computers to gather and order genealogical material has not only allowed for a more efficient handling of large amounts of data; it has also given rise to new analytical approaches with potential applications. I would like to briefly explore one such approach, the representation and analysis of empirical marriage patterns, with a view to its possible relevance for Native Title. Ethnographic accounts overwhelmingly attest to the central mediating role played by affinal relationships among Australian Aboriginal populations. People having inter-related ties to the same stretch of territory, those undertaking ceremonial and/or political activities together and so on, do not just happen to intermarry. Rather, ongoing relations of matrimonial interdependence between such persons ' families are an integral aspect of their ability to perform certain ritual and other activities, to properly look after country and to faithfully pass on land-related knowledge. It may well be that persons acquire and transmit ownership of particular sites through individual ties of descent. However, the wider system of relationship through which such descent ties are integrated into particular supra-familial collectivities and perpetuated a