‘The healing can start’: London’s Natural History Museum returns Aboriginal remains after more than a century
- London’s Natural History Museum returned remains of an Aboriginal ancestor
- A traditional smoke ceremony in the British capital marked the handover
- There has been 1,200 ancestral remains returned from the UK alone so far
The ancestral remains of 37 indigenous people will be returned to Australia from London’s Natural History Museum after more than 100 years.
Narungga community representatives from South Australia, Douglas Milera and Professor Peter Buckskin, travelled to the UK to attend the handover ceremony on Tuesday night Australian time.
They received the remains of an ancestor who will be cared for at the South Australian Museum until the community is ready to conduct a reburial ceremony.
South Australia Narungga community elders, Douglas Milera and Professor Peter Buckskin, travelled to London for a smoke ceremony marking a handover of ancestral remains (pictured)
The SA Museum will also look after another seven repatriated ancestral remains.
The remaining 29 ancestral remains will go to the National Museum of Australia until the Ngarrindjeri, Far West Coast, Kaurna and Flinders Ranges communities are ready to lay them to rest.
‘This return is a significant event for our country,’ Arts Minister Mitch Fifield said in a statement distributed in Australia.
He said the indigenous repatriation program had led to the return of more than 1480 ancestral remains, including more than 1200 from the UK.
Mr Milera told ABC that the ‘healing can start’ following the historic exchange.
Mr Milera signs documents to officially mark the handover. Australian High Commissioner to the UK George Brandis and Museum Director Sir Michael Dixon attended the ceremony
Mr Milera shakes Mr Brandis’ before the ceremony. Over 1,200 ancestral bodies have been returned from the UK under the Indigenous Repatriation Program