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UK Public Should Challenge Non-Human Trustees

Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA)

'UK Public Should Challenge Non-Human Trustees': Press Conference held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies - 30 July 2003

30 July 2003 - Aboriginal leaders from Australia are calling for British citizens to join in with their protest against the Board of Trustees of the Natural History Museum.

The delegation from Australia, who have travelled to the UK to receive back their ancestral remains from two museums, feel that the Aboriginal people have been deeply offended by ‘the old colonial policies’ of the Natural History Museum.

The delegation includes: Bob Weatherall, cultural officer with FAIRA Major Sumner, a Ngarrindjeri elder and Rodney Dillon, commissioner - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission

Bob Weatherall says that they have been overwhelmed by the support for Aboriginal people coming from public, the government and many of the museums. This is in stark contrast to the attitude of the Natural History Museum.

‘This should have been a very happy occasion for us, as we return ancestral remains to their traditional custodians and end the spiritual turmoil for many communities.

‘However we are deeply troubled and sad because we have been insulted by inhuman and insensitive responses from one particular museum.

‘The people who run the place have no sympathy for the Aboriginal people of Australia and have no regard for the fact they are handling the bodies of real people – people who have been murdered for their body parts or stolen from sacred burial sites’ Bob Weatherall said.

‘We have tried to reason with them, and to work out a basis to cooperate for a resolution of our differences’ he said ‘but the museum is indifferent, and believes that the trustees are the owners of our ancestral remains.

‘They are not willing to face the errors of their ways and they use ancient and out-ofdate legislation to prevent us having any say in the safe-keeping or handling of these poor people.’

Mr Weatherall says the Board of Trustees is compelled to take account of public opinion, and asks the UK public to leave no doubt in the minds of the trustees that there is no support for their inhumanity and evil towards Indigenous Peoples.

The delegation will picket the museum on Thursday (31 July 2003), and ask visitors to the museum to register their vote in favour of the Aboriginal people of Australia.

The delegation does not want to prevent the public from enjoying the legitimate and educational displays, but the feel it is up to the public to teach the Trustees human values and the differences between moral rights and wrongs.

Source: Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA)

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