Aborigines of Victoria: With Notes Relating to the Habits of the Natives of Other Parts of Australia and Tasmania Compiled from Various Sources for the Government of Victoria

V.1 p.xvii-lxxii; Introduction surveys Aboriginal life all over the Australian mainland and Tasmania; p.1-21; Physical character, portraits of natives Vic., Qld., Tas.; Comparison with other races (Maori, Mongolian, Chinese, etc.) and other parts of Australia; Half-castes; p.22-30; Mental character; p.31-45; Numbers and distribution of many tribes; p.46-58; Birth and education of children, infanticide, naming children; p.58- 75; Initiation ceremonies for men and women; Quotes Thomas, Howitt, Green, Taplin; Tooth avulsion, names for initiands at various stages, Narrinyeri ceremony (including depilation, prohibitions, body painting), ceremony at Port Lincoln - bloodletting, cicatrisation, ornaments - circumcision; p.76-97; Marriage, abduction, trial by ordeal, exogamy (quotes Grey), division into four classes among the Kamilaroi, quotes Bridgman on Queensland kinship system and brief notes of classificatory kinship terms; Mother-in-law avoidance; p.98-122; Death and burial of the dead; Mourning, tree platform burial, cremation; Extensive footnote on Dieyeri vengeance party; Quotes Taplin for Narrinyeri burial customs and Howitt for Dieyerie customs; p.123-165; Encampment & daily life; Quotes Bulmer for daily life at different seasons, fishing with torches at night, hunting kangaroos, use of canoes for fishing, in Southeast Victoria; Property; Fights (quotes William Thomas on an inter-tribal conflict, preliminary tactics, women fighting when men had finished); p.166-182; Corroborees, amusements, trade; p.183- 191; Food; Hunting methods (spears, pits, nets, decoys) for kangaroos, wallabies, opossum; Lists native names from Lake Tyers area for different varieties; p.191-197; Methods of procuring birds (native names from Lake Tyers); p.199-208; Fishing, (by hand, nets, spearing, weirs, hooks) shellfish; List fish eaten in Gippsland with native names & method used for each Bees; Footnote on Bogong moth; p.208-227; Vegetable food; Lists plants eaten, native names & how eaten in Gippsland and the Western district; Lists of plants generally eaten in Victoria compiled by Von Miller; Detailed description of nardoo, bunya-bunya; Footnote quotes Von Muller on pituri and its effects; Quotes list of 122 native names of animal and vegetable foods recorded by Gason from the Dieyeri tribe; p.227234; Notes on some of the roots, tubers, bulbs and fruits used as vegetable food by the Aboriginals of Northern Queendsland, Australia, by A. Thozet, (includes native names, methods of preparation); p.234- 252; Food taboos; Mirrn-yongs, shell mounds, and stone-shelters Cannibalism (quotes Howitt on practice in Gippsland); p.253- 269; Diseases; Quotes letters of William Thomas and Thomas Goodwin on diseases prevalent among Aborigines & the treatment for them; p.270-282; Dress and personal ornaments (many illustrated), gives Aboriginal names; Quotes Gummow for ornaments worn by natives of the Lower Murray area and Gason for a list of those used by the Dieyerie tribe; p.283-294; Art (designs, bark painting, rock painting, pigments); p.295-298; Body ornamentation and cicatrisation (comparison of designs used in New Guinea, New Zealand, (Fiji); p.299-329; Offensive weapons, (clubs, spears, spear throwers, boomerangs); p.330-334; Defensive weapons (shields); p.335-341; Weapons and implements of the West Australians; p.342-356; Implements and manufactures Bags and baskets (materials & construction), water vessels, strangling cord, message sticks (from Queensland); p.357-387; Stone implements; Axes and axe-heads; Knives, and adzes; Other stone implements for cutting, scraping, pounding etc.; p.388- 392; Nets and fish-hooks (materials and construction); p.393406; Methods of producing fire; Footnote quotes further information from Wm. Thomas; Comparison of methods used by Yarra & Lower Murray River tribes; p.407-422; Canoes; Methods of construction; Preferred types of wood; Canoe trees; p.423-483; Myths; Priests and sorcerers; Footnote on Dieyeri rain-making.