Cultural centre in the north could

There is a similar story for the remains of a Gimuy Walubara Yidinji King that in April were returned from Berlin to Australia, only to sit in a Brisbane museum 1500km south of their ancestral home.

“The government could do us a great service to help us bring home many of the different objects that have been taken away or stolen and put in foreign museums in the south or overseas,” Ms Marrie said.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad told the Cairns Post the Government wanted to build the centre in Brisbane so it could be part of a circuit with the likes of the Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery and Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

“But that’s not to say we can’t also have a conversation about what might happen here in Cairns,” she said.

The plan is still preliminary – $2 million for a study into building the centre in Brisbane with an obvious nod to the likes of Eddie Mabo and his role in native title. But Ms Marrie said there were so many stories from the north that could not be told in a southern museum.

“There’s definitely room for two centres,” she said. “How many indigenous people who live north of Townsville are going to go to Brisbane to visit a cultural centre when most of their cultural activities are up here anyway?”

Ms Trad was receptive to suggestions a happy trade-off could be to ensure the $40 million Cairns Gallery Precinct went ahead with a one-third financial contribution from the State Government and a heavy