Further coverage of the Natural History Museum’s decision to return some of the aboriginal human remains in their collection.
One thing to bear in mind is that prior to a change in the law last year, any returns from the Britain’s major museums were impossible, but after negotiations between Britain & Australia it was agreed that recent (less than one thousand years old) human remains could be treated as a special case by museums.

From:
Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

UK museum to return Aboriginal remains
November 19, 2006 – 11:14AM

Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough has welcomed a British museum’s decision to return Aboriginal remains.

Britain’s Natural History Museum on Friday agreed to return the remains of 18 Aborigines to Australia.

But the museum will delay the repatriation of most of the remains – those of 17 Tasmanian Aborigines – for several months while it conducts scientific tests on them.

The skull of an 18th person, which was stolen from Australia in 1913, will be returned immediately.

“We acknowledge our decision may be questioned by community groups or by some scientists,” Natural History Museum director Michael Dixon said in a statement.

“However, we believe the decision to return the Tasmanian remains, following a short period of data collection, is a commonsense one that balances the requirements of all those with an interest in the remains.”

Testing would start in January and take about three months, the museum said.

Mr Brough welcomed the decision to return the remains but described the delay as regrettable.

“It would be my preference that all the remains be returned immediately,” he said.

The decision to return the remains, which include teeth and bones, follows a claim lodged by the Australian government in November last year and a request from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.

The Natural History Museum defended the decision to conduct tests on the items.

“Many of the Tasmanian remains in the museum represent people from a time when Tasmania was isolated from the rest of the world, so they are genetically different from other human populations, including those in mainland Australia,” the museum said.

“The differences that continue to be identified tell us more about how people reached the island, how they lived and how those people were linked with other human groups.”

Any material removed during imaging, measurement and DNA analysis would be replaced so the items could be returned in a complete state, it said.

The announcement follows the return of cremated Aboriginal remains to Tasmania’s indigenous community in September, after they had been in British museums for more than 100 years.

© 2006 AAP

From:
Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

Museum defends decision to delay return of remains
November 20, 2006

THE Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough, has welcomed a decision by London’s Natural History Museum to repatriate the remains of 17 Tasmanians and a skull from mainland Australia – even though the return will be delayed.

The museum will retain most of the remains for several months while it conducts scientific tests on them although the skull, which was stolen from Australia in 1913, will be returned immediately.

The Federal Government requested the return 12 months ago on behalf of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, which says it will cremate the material in keeping with Aboriginal beliefs.

The Natural History Museum’s decision to return the historic fragments has dismayed scientists, who say the remains are invaluable for understanding human origins and should not be destroyed.

“We acknowledge our decision may be questioned by community groups or by some scientists,” said the museum’s director, Michael Dixon, but he added that the museum believed the decision was common sense.

Defending the decision to conduct tests, which would start in January and take about three months, the Natural History Museum said: “Many of the Tasmanian remains in the museum represent people from a time when Tasmania was isolated from the rest of the world, so they are genetically different from other human populations, including those in mainland Australia.

“The differences that continue to be identified tell us more about how people reached the island, how they lived and how those people were linked with other human groups.”

Any material removed during imaging, measurement and DNA analysis would be replaced so that the items could be returned in a complete state, it said.

Mr Brough welcomed the museum’s decision to return the remains, but described the delay as regrettable.

“It would be my preference that all the remains be returned immediately,” he said.

The remains date from the early 19th and early 20th centuries and include skulls given by Oxford University Museum in 1946 and the Royal College of Surgeons’ Hunterian Museum in the 1960s. One, named Christopher or Rodney, was given to Lady Franklin, the wife of an early governor of Tasmania.

The museum decided to return the skull after officials confirmed it was exported illegally in 1913.

In March the British Museum returned two bundles of ashes to Australian Aborigines.

The Natural History Museum is considering a request for the return of all Australian remains, about 450 specimens.

Its decision to hold on to the remains of the 17 Tasmanians to conduct intensive tests runs counter to the wishes of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.

Chris Stringer, the head of human origins at the museum, said it was regrettable that the remains were to be cremated, as they would also be lost to Tasmanians.

Robert Foley, professor of human evolution at Cambridge University, said: “As a scientist I deeply regret that this invaluable material will be lost forever.”

AAP, Guardian News & Media

From:
ABC News (Australia)

Last Update: Saturday, November 18, 2006. 1:42am (AEDT)
British museum to return Tas Aboriginal remains

The bones of 17 Tasmanian Aborigines dating back to the early 18th and 19th centuries, which form part of an extensive collection of human remains at Britain’s Natural History Museum, will be returned to Australia.

The museum announced the decision on Friday following a meeting of its board of trustees which considered the request first made 20 years ago under a claim by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC).

“We will repatriate to the Australian Government – and we are expecting that they will ask us to repatriate them direct to the Tasmanian group – the remains of 17 humans,” said Oliver Stocken, chairman of the board of trustees, at a news conference.

After they are returned to the TAC they will be cremated, in accordance with local customs.

It is the first decision to return exhibits since a new law came into force in Britain last year which allows the repatriation of ancestral remains.

The legislation does not have any bearing on the separate issue of Greece’s long-standing demand that the British Museum return the Elgin Marble sculptures.

The Tasmanian exhibits, which are part of the Natural History Museum’s collection of more than 19,000 specimens, range from a single tooth to a partially complete skeleton. Little is known about their origins.

Another aboriginal skull which was exported illegally from Australia to Britain in 1913 will also be returned to Australia early next year, along with the other specimens, after researchers at the museum collect scientific data and do a DNA analysis on them.

“This is a landmark decision,” said museum director Dr Michael Dixon.

He added the trustees had considered the scientific value of the specimens as well as religious, cultural and ethical concerns.

Professor Richard Lane, science director of the museum, said the remains are particularly important from a scientific perspective because when they were collected in the early 19th century Tasmania was isolated from the rest of the world, so they are genetically different from other human populations.

“This gives us quite a lot of insight into the development of the groups within the Australian aboriginal people,” he added. “A huge amount of knowledge can be gained from these specimens.”

Mr Dixon said the museum is having discussions with the United States and New Zealand about repatriating other remains but it has not received any formal claims. It may also return other specimens from the collection to Australia.

“We fully expect further claims,” he added.

-Reuters