c. The husband does not always enjoy such an entire freedom of action

towards his wife.

Sometimes, for punishing and divorcing her, he must have the consent of the tribe. So in N. S. Wales, in case of adultery “he may complain to the elders of the tribe, and they, on cause shown, decree a divorce; but not if she has children.” According to another writer “the husband who suspects another of seducing his wife, either kills one or both. The affair is taken up by the tribe, if the party belongs to another, who inflict punishment on him.” In W. Victoria “a man can divorce his wife for serious misconduct, and can even put her to death; but in every case the charge against her must be laid before the chiefs of his own and his wife’s tribes, and their consent to her punishment obtained. If the wife has children, however, she cannot be divorced”. Here we find also some slight traces of protection of the wife by her relatives: “A man is allowed to marry his brother’s widow, or his own deceased wife’s sister, or a woman of her tribe; but he is not permitted to do so, if he has divorced or killed his wife”. In N. W. Central Queensland the wife is avenged by her relations. “In the case of a man killing his own gin [wife], he has to deliver up one of his own sisters for his late wife’s friends to put to death, he personally escaping punishment.... A wife has always her “brothers” to look after her interests”. At the initiation-feasts “each woman can exercise the right of punishing any man who may have ill-treated, abused or “hammered” her ... the delinquent not being allowed to retaliate in any way whatsoever”. If these women are slaves, they at least have their saturnalia [26].

We even find cases of the wife putting a check upon her husband, especially in a sexual respect. On Herbert River the wife is furious if her husband is unfaithful to her. In N. S. Wales “a wife may similarly complain to them [the elders of the tribe] of the conduct of her husband, and they may order both the man and his paramour to be punished”. In W. Victoria “if a husband is unfaithful, his wife cannot divorce him. She may make a complaint to the chief, who can punish the man by sending him away from his tribe for two or three moons; and the guilty woman is very severely punished by her relatives”. “A chief who has been married under the law of betrothal, is not permitted to marry another woman for a long time; and should he do so without obtaining the consent of his wife, there would be constant quarreling”. At Port Lincoln an old, former wife sometimes forces her husband to desist from taking a young, new one.

Finally we meet with instances of the wife having a real ascendency over her husband. On Herbert River the husband is sometimes led by his wife, and even beaten by her. A curious piece of information we get about W. Victoria. When a wife treats her husband with such persistent disrespect or unkindness as to make him wish to get rid of her, he goes away to some neighbouring tribe and tries to bring about her death by means of sorcery. The wife, being informed of this, repairs thither and entreats him to return, and so a reconciliation is effected.

In Tasmania the husband could divorce his wife; but she could also force him to do so.