Return of Aboriginal relics is a first for UK
MANCHESTER Museum has become the first in the country to hand back sacred objects to aboriginal communities in Australia.
The museum, part of The University of Manchester on Oxford Road, has been in possession of the material since the 1920s.
Ceremonial items, artefacts and even human remains were often collected by British colonists at a time when indigenous people were seen as less than human.
Australian Aborigines and native Americans have been campaigning for the return of such objects for decades.
Manchester Museum is one of a number of British institutions that has been active in returning ancestral remains to their communities of origin since 2003. But the repatriation of 43 sacred objects to the Aranda people of Central Australia, Gangalidda Garawa peoples of northwest Queensland, Nyamal people of the Pilbara and Yawuru people of Broome marks a UK first.
Craig Ritchie, from the Australia Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), welcomed the decision as significant not only for the Aboriginal peoples whose items are coming home, but also for Australia more broadly.
“We congratulate Manchester Museum for their commitment to recognising the importance of repatriation for all Australians, which promotes healing and reconciliation, and ultimately fosters truth telling about our nation’s history,” Mr Ritchie said.
In late November, the first of two formal handover ceremonies will take place at Manchester Museum with delegates from Gangalidda Garawa, Nyamal and AIATSIS.
Mangubadijarri Yanner, Representative for the Gangalidda Garawa Native Title Aboriginal Corporation said: “Locked deep within these items is our lore; our histories, our traditions and our stories.”