Strong Identities

We Are Pertame People.

Every Pertame class we teach, we get our kids and adults to recite this chant: "We are Pertame people, we have always been here, our language will never finish". The kids all know the chant off by heart in Pertame, and when I ask them, "why will our language never finish?" they tell me "Because we are still speaking it"

The Kinship System

The Pertame kinship system is an essential part of Pertame identity, that places Pertame people within a complex network of relationships that ties them to family, responsibilities, country, plants, animals and other Aboriginal language groups. The Kinship System creates balance and harmony within Pertame society. Children receive their skin name from their father or mother, with each skin name defining a unique connection and responsibility to all other skin names; including grandparent, grandchild, spouse, mother, father, sister, brother, niece, nephew, uncle, aunty and in-law relationships. See the diagram below revealing the connections between the 8 skin groups.

The Pertame School is reviving the Kinship System within our community, placing each child within this network of belonging. We have custom made our Pertame School shirt uniforms with the skin name and associated colour of each child. This creates a visual representation of where each children stands in the kinship network when we are together for events.

The Pertame Skin Names

  • Pengarta

  • Peltharra

  • Mpetyana

  • Kngwarraye

  • Perrurla

  • Ngala

  • Kemarra

  • Penangka

The children are more aware of where they fit into society as Pertame kids. Its not only giving them a place in our Pertame society but in the Australian society too. Our Pertame kids are proud of who they are and where they come from.

- Samantha Armstrong, apprentice