by Europe correspondent Isabella Higgins in Manchester
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| Parents in the Anindilyakwa community traditionally paint the shell dolls for their daughters. |
A vast collection of Indigenous artefacts kept in northern England for decades is being returned to the Northern Territory, ending an "emotional" years-long repatriation process.
The items have been in storage at the Manchester Museum since the 1980s, deposited by a British anthropologist who collected them while working on Groote Eylandt years earlier.
Only a few of the objects in the collection, which includes spears, turtle shell carvings, arm bands, bark baskets and a significant collection of shell dolls, were ever displayed.
But the 174 items, which date back to the 1950s, remained immensely valuable and significant to the Anindilyakwa community.
"This is my first time in Manchester seeing our ancestors' artefacts, and the first time I saw them it made me cry," Anindilyakwa woman Macie Lalara said.
Three women from the Anindilyakwa community made the journey from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Manchester for the handover ceremony at the museum on Tuesday.
"Emotionally, [this is] hurting me now," said Danjibana Noeleen Lalara, one of Anindilyakwa elders.
"I am so proud that we are taking them back home … it's been a long journey."
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| Anindilyakwa women Amethea Mamarika, left, and Danjibana Noeleen Lalara travelled to Manchester for the ceremony.(ABC News: Andrew Greaves) |
During the ceremony, the woman offered a gift to museum staff on behalf of their community as a thanks for caring for these items.
The Anindilyakwa women embraced the locals on the stage, as music from the Groote Eylandt community played through the institution's historic collection room.
"In 2023 we are bringing them back to our home, our Groote Eylandt," said Amethea Mamarika, another of the Anindilyakwa representatives.
The daughter of Paul Worsley, the anthropologist who collected the items, was also present at the handover.
"It is all a little unexpected, but incredibly exciting and positive," Deborah Worsley said.
Museum still holds 'several hundred' First Nations objects
The Manchester Museum is one of the largest in the UK and is still believed to hold "several hundred" cultural objects from Australia, according to its head of collections and exhibitions Georgina Young.
The institution has published a list of these items and says the future of these collections will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
"There's much more work to do on understanding what we have, how we came by it, and whether Manchester's still the right place for it to be," Ms Young said.
"Most processes of return are quite technical and quite paper based, there's a lot of proving and documenting and provenance research.
"We have declared [Manchester Museum] is open to future repatriations, and we expect that this is part of the future of museums, not just ours, but other museums in the future."
For hundreds of years, significant objects and ancestorial remains were removed from Australia and sent to institutions around the world.
In recent decades, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies [AIATSIS] has been supporting First Nations communities to have these returned to country.
"It's a lengthy process," said Leonard Hill, the acting CEO of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).
"Return and delivery of material from Manchester is a conversation that we've been having for a couple of years with the community and with the museum."
Officials from Manchester Museum travelled to meet with the community in Groote Eylandt to aid the repatriation process.
"There is a different quality to a return process if you are dealing with real people face to face and really listening and the kind of emotion that comes through," Ms Young said.
The museum had already repatriated some objects to Anindilyakwa community in 2019, but had to complete further checks on some items.
"I think it's a practice that we would hope to continue and that we would say it's been a really positive and enriching experience for both of us," Ms Young said.
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| Photo copyright OpenStreetMap contributors |
Vast Anindilyakwa repatriation a 'trigger' for other institutions
There is hope this return, which is "significant because of its size", will help other First Nations communities trying to regain heritage items, Mr Hill said.
"I hope it provides a bit of a trigger to other institutions, to show there is genuine goodwill and willingness on communities and institutions to work with partners overseas to return material."
Talks are ongoing with several institutions in Britain to return both cultural objects and ancestral remains, said Australia's High Commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith.
"We've worked closely with a number of United Kingdom institutions over time … there have been something like 12,000 items that have been returned to Australia," he said.
"In the modern era, we do have to show great respect to our Indigenous communities, great respect to our First Nations people, as it's deeply important for them.
"[Repatriation] is not just as a signal of reconciliation, but to ensure that their cultural traditions, their cultural heritage is preserved and maintained into the future."
For years, Dharawal campaigners have been pushing for the return of the Gweagel shield and spears from the British Museum.
It's believed these objects were obtained by Captain James Cook during first contact with the Gwegeal people at Botany Bay.
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| These barbed spears are among the artefacts being returned to Groote Eylandt.(Supplied) |
The Anindilyakwa community is ready to celebrate the end of the long fight to have its heritage returned, and the cultural reinvigoration it has brought with it.
"When the artefacts arrive at Groote Eylandt there will be a special ceremony for the artefacts … our families who will be proud," Danjibana Noeleen Lalara said.
"The artefacts that we are taking back to our home is very important … for our next generation … teaching them … education through our arts."
She said the repatriation process had prompted more in the community to take up the old cultural practice of making shell dolls.
Younger generations are again being taught how to make these pieces, which have long been used as toys and educated children about the community's kinship system.
"Back home we do learning on country with our school kids, going out and collect the shells, painting them with natural ochre and also cover in pandanus," Macie Lalara said.
"The kids love it … and we follow on in our ancestors' footsteps.”
First published at ABC News, September 6, 2023
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