home | news l

Decision due on Aboriginal remains in UK

8 May 2007 - A decision on whether the remains of 13 Aborigines will be returned to Australia from England is due to be made on Wednesday.

Indigenous delegation with remains of four of their anscestors finally on their way home- London 2007 photo courtesy Kevin Brown

Mediation for the repatriation of the remains from the British Natural History Museum to Tasmania concluded in London on Monday.

Aboriginal delegates from Hobart, Caroline Spotswood and Greg Browne, have this week been locked in talks with museum officials and mediators, including Australian Sir Laurence Street.

Ms Spotswood said she is confident a draft agreement will see the remains handed over to the Australian High Commission in London on Friday.

"We hope to fly out of the UK on Saturday with our ancestors in our possession," Ms Spotswood told AAP from London.

"The talks have been very constructive, with everyone appearing to find some common ground."

Ms Spotswood said she will protest with Mr Browne and supporters outside the museum if no agreement is reached.

"If things don't go our way, that's what we'll do," she said.

"But having said that, we are pretty confident of a result tomorrow."

The museum last month handed over the remains of four Aborigines to the delegation at a special ceremony.

It is prepared to repatriate the remaining 13 only after carrying out scientific testing upon them, something the Tasmanian Aboriginal Council (TAC) and the federal government are trying to prevent.

A legal battle launched by the TAC against the museum has been adjourned pending the mediation result.

Ms Spotswood said the delegation will start lobbying for the return of human remains and other cultural property if the repatriation is approved on Wednesday.

"We are planning to travel to Scotland, Oxford and Cambridge to open the door for further mediation for the return of our ancestors and their belongings."

Ms Spotswood said the remains were taken from Tasmania without Aboriginal consent in the 1880s, and the TAC has been fighting for their return since the 1980s.

Source: The Age

Further information: repatriation issues page - includes news index and external links

|| click to go to the top of this page