Kinship runs deep beyond the western constructs of family, and extends into our community. Kinship is about caring for one another, and our lines of connection.

Rather than following a traditional western family structure, we often refer to those who are or are not related to us but those we are connected to in our communities as our cousins, mums, dads, aunties, aunties, sons or daughters.

For example, in some communities and kinship systems, our great grandparents can be referred to as our sons and daughters because we care for them, in the same way that our grandparents' siblings can be referred to as nan and pop rather than our great uncle or great aunty.

Similarly, our parents' siblings become mum and dad rather than aunty and uncle, and our cousins our brothers and sisters.

When it comes to our cousins, we can be as close as biological siblings too, and we think of our cousins as our immediate family.

However this is not true for all First Nations communities across the country – some of us follow western family structures in some regards, and honour cultural kinship systems in others.

Connecting with other mob

In our communities, we often connect with mob like family with sometimes an unspoken familiarity or shared knowledge that could either be coming from community or our histories as First Nations peoples.

This can at times be hard to describe or for non-Indigenous people to understand.

Sometimes we can refer to our friends as 'sis' or 'bruz' even though we’re not biologically related as an affectionate way to express our closeness and love for other mob.

We also may use 'aunty' or 'uncle' when referring to children - this is used in a playful way.

Elders and older people

Something that may also be confusing for non-Indigenous people is the use of aunty and uncle when addressing Elders or those older than you when you are not related to that person.

On many occasions it is done as a sign of respect to the person, and/or their status in the community as knowledge holders.