Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen provide a crucial insight that helps define the distinction in these methods: timing and nurture. They state that, with one exception, children were killed immediately after birth. However, they establish a critical threshold: “If once the mother has suckled it, then… it is never killed.” This rule shows the profound change in status that occurs once the bond of nurturing is established, separating a newborn that may be a perceived burden from a suckling child who is part of the community. This distinction explains why desertion and violence were reserved almost exclusively for the newborn, and why the death of a nurtured child was met with practices of profound, prolonged grief.
Notably, in Carl Lumholtz’s account from Western Queensland, a three-week-old half-caste child was choked to death, roasted, and eaten by the community. This act, occurring after the nurturing period, stands in direct contrast to the practices described by Spencer and Gillen.