Indigenous artist Allan McKenzie requests Royal Family return Aboriginal remains from museums

An Aboriginal artist has demanded the Royal Family return the remains of First Nations Australians from British museums, following the Queen’s death at 96.

In an impassioned post to Facebook on Wednesday, artist Allan McKenzie, from NSW’s Central Coast, noted there were the remains of many Aboriginal Australians are still being held in museums across the UK and Europe.

‘If the ”Royal Family of the Commonwealth and England” were such great humanitarians of this planet and are such generous, kind people,’ he wrote.

‘Why is it that they and the museums of England still hold the remains of Aboriginal warriors and people’s bodies that they refuse to return to the First Nation Aboriginal people of this country?’

Mr McKenzie said it was time that Aboriginal Australians were given a chance to give their ancestors a proper burial.

In an impassioned post to Facebook on Wednesday, Mr McKenzie, from NSW’s Central Coast, noted there were the remains of many Aboriginal Australians still being held in museums across the world

While many agreed with the artist, he also copped some backlash on his post with one telling him to ‘stop moaning’, while another said the artist should be more respectful given the Queen’s death was announced less than a week ago.

‘Heck her bodies barely cold and controversy is the first thing you say? There’s a time and place for everything. This isn’t it,’ one said.

‘I understand your pain … but the timing is terrible,’ said another.

‘Didn’t realise this was a hate page, thought it was art,’ one wrote.

Mr McKenzie then made another post hitting back at those who accused him of being ‘disrespectful’.

Mr McKenzie hit back at those accusing him of being disrespectful following the Queen’s death, saying he will always stand for the ‘justice of our ancestors’

The artist said the Royal Family (pictured) ‘claim to be humanitarians’, and called for Indigenous remains to be returned

‘Just sit back and think of what Aboriginal people have faced during the time frame the Commonwealth has dictated to my people!’ he said.

‘The way we live!!! The way we learn!!!! The essence of who we are!!! 

‘My heart has been and always will be for justice of our ancestors that lay in boxes in museums as spectacles, I don’t care what people have to say about me I know where my heart is and I will be with my people till the day I die.’

He added ‘#f**kthecommonwealth’ underneath his post, but added it was not his intention to criticise Her Majesty.

‘Not once did I say anything horrible about the Queen…. I only stated a fact about the Royals …. that claim to be humanitarians of the planet that is all,’ he added.

‘And that between monarchs and museums that have taken human remains of Aboriginal people to museums…. that they should be returned!!!’

The Indigenous Repatriation Program was set up to support the repatriation of ancestral remains and secret sacred objects to their communities.

The program has led to more than 1,600 centuries-old remains being returned from overseas, with more than 1,200 coming from the UK.

In March, 2019, the Natural History Museum in London gave back 37 sets of Australian Aboriginal ancestral remains.

‘We as people of Australia should unite and fight for all of them to be returned to their sacred homelands and not sit on shelves in boxes,’ Mr McKenzie wrote.

Many agreed with the artist and praised him for speaking out, while others added the Royal Family had no control over what the museums hold, saying it was up to the government instead.

Many agreed with the artist and praised him for speaking out, while others added the Royal Family had no control over what the museums hold, saying it was up to the government instead