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Scientists miss the point on human remains repatriation

ATSIC Media Release - Statement by ATSIC Commissioner for Tasmania, Rodney Dillon

16 May 2003 - A London newspaper report describing the potential return of Aboriginal human remains as "folly" is a pathetic attempt to justify past practices that were common in Australia in the 1800s.

London's Daily Telegraph reports today scientists are uneasy that a British Government working party may recommend law changes to see the "human bones" returned. These are our people's remains, not just human bones.

These scientists are not doing us a favor by giving them back to our people. These remains belong to our people. They were stolen. It is our right to have them returned. It is their right to be returned.

The remains were dug up from graves others taken after our ancestors had just expelled their last breath when their bodies were still warm.

We still have a 25-year lower life expectancy than non-Indigenous Australians, and have a much higher propensity to heart disease and diabetes.

Perhaps these scientists should exhume the bodies of their ancestors such as the notorious King Henry VIII.

An examination of his remains may unearth the ignorance of these present-day scientists.

I do not expect these scientists to understand our culture but I do expect them to respect it.

Our ancestral remains should be returned to our people where their spirits can be treated in accordance with our culture and tradition.

Source: ATSIC

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