Tolai Genealogies

These genealogies were prepared in PNG during the 1960s by the Land Titles Commission (LTC). The LTC was a semi-judicial body set up by the Australian colonial authorities with responsibility for adjudicating on land claims. Land tenure in PNG is closely related to kinship and, to inform its work in the territory of the Tolai people of East New Britain, LTC field staff carried out the laborious job of collating genealogies, showing the (matrilineal) descent of the kinship groups (vunatarai) into which their society is divided. Names of interviewees such as seniors (alualua) and other informants were also recorded.