The Wire

After thirty years of lobbying, Indigenous Australians have finally won success in the British Parliament – with the passage of a law which allows the British museum and eight other major institutions to return human remains to Indigenous communities from abroad. The British Culture Minister David Lammy attributes the legal change to ongoing requests from Indigenous people — especially Australians – to have ancestral remains returned. The UK Government set up a Human Remains Working Group three years ago, which recommended the change in law, and called for institutions holding remains to be licensed by the Human Tissue Authority. Meanwhile, an Aboriginal skull will be restored to its original burial site – after it was handed to descendants in a ceremony today in downtown Brisbane. The Waamba Waamba man’s skull was taken from the banks of the Murray River four decades ago, when it was uncovered by John Danalis’ uncle, during excavation for an irrigation channel. Bob Weatherall, Director of Repatriation body Bubbunj and a participant in today’s ceremony, has backed the calls for other individuals to give ancestral remains back.