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Ancient bones going home to Oz

Ria Nortcliffe

5 February 2009 - PRE-HISTORIC bones from an aboriginal woman found during a Cheshire house clearance are to be returned to Australia.

An auction of the remains was dramatically halted mid-session after a phone call ordering the immediate withdrawal of the bones because they were believed to be aboriginal.

Auctioneer Tom Andrew, from Wilmslow, who found the bones and artefacts when he was clearing out a house in Alderley Edge, had put two skulls and two femurs - believed to be many thousands of years old - up for auction in Sandbach.

They were expected to fetch thousands of pounds.

But after intervention by the Australian High Commission the bones were sent for analysis and it was confirmed they were the remains of an aboriginal woman.

Now the bones are being sent back to Australia.

Mr Andrew said: "The bones are now being kept safe at the auction house and are to be collected and shipped back.

"We're happy with the decision to donate them. It's been quite an exciting time - you never know what's around the next corner in this line of work."

The bones were found in a crate in a house on Trafford Road which had belonged to Mary Kempster and her husband John, a university professor and former president of the Aboriginal Rights Association in South Australia in the 1960s.

Boomerangs, aboriginal weapons and tools were also unearthed during the house clearance.

Source: Manchester Evening News

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