(Boylove Documentary Sourcebook) - On the Aboriginal Tribes of the Kimberley Region of Western Australia

Aboriginals stand upon red cliffs above the Kimberley plains, Western Australia (1952). Photograph by W. Pedersen. National Archives of Australia, Canberra.

From a footnote regarding similarities between the women's secret corroboree rituals of Central Australia and those of the Kimberley region, in Aboriginal Woman: Sacred and Profane by Phyllis M. Kaberry (London; New York: Routledge, 2004), first published in 1939 by George Routledge and Sons.

However, homosexuality amongst the men did exist. The youths of 17 to 18 who were still unmarried would take boys of 10 or 11 as lovers. The women had no hesitation in discussing the matter with me, did not regard it as shameful, gave the names of different boys, and seemed to regard the practice as a temporary substitute for marriage.

Boys dancing a corroboree (1970). National Archives of Australia, Canberra.

See also

• Aranda
• Pederasty