More coverage of Neil MacGregor’s comments in an Australian Press article.

From:
Greek Reporter

British Museum’s Director Refuses to Return Parthenon Marbles
Posted on 31 March 2011 by Anastasia Miskedaki

The director of the British Museum was interviewed by the Australian newspaper “The Sydney Morning Herald” where he eliminated all possibilities of the return of the Parthenon marbles to Greece. Mr. Macgregor, states characteristically about the marbles: “These historical objects are worthy when they are exhibited in a whole, so, as a narrator of the whole human history, I think it is obligatory to find the best way for the marbles to be visited, as they cannot be embodied in Parthenon.” As he also said, in the two-page interview included in the Spectrum insert of the newspaper, the museum is willing to lend the marbles to Greece but the Greek government doesn’t even negotiate this possibility. When the new museum of the Acropolis was inaugurated, the British Museum was once more willing to lend the marbles, on a condition that the Greek government would recognize the rights of their possession to the British Museum. This proposition was straightly declined from the Greek government.

Whilst this is an interesting story, the comparison to the Parthenon Marbles seems completely spurious. As far as I can understand, Melbourne is making no claim on them – if Bendigo could build a facility to house them, the artefacts would be returned. This is entirely different to the case, where Greece has a building to house the Parthenon Marbles, but the British Museum refuses to return them.

From:
Bendigo Advertiser

Artefacts should stay here says historian
JAMIE DUNCAN
23 Mar, 2011 03:00 AM

PRICELESS artefacts dug from a central Bendigo building site must come home to Bendigo to teach us about our city’s past, a local historian says.

Bendigo Historical Society secretary Trevor Parsons said the artefacts, including priceless glassware, crockery and building remnants unearthed at the site now occupied by RSD House in Forest Street, deserve a home in Bendigo.
Read the rest of this entry »

A few days ago, various people in Australia were claiming that the Flinders Map was Australia’s equivalent of the Elgin Marbles. This was a fairly spurious comparison to make, as there is no real connection between the two cases, which involve entirely dissimilar circumstances. Unsurprisingly, Britain has taken the point of view that the map is legally owned by the British Hydrographic Office.

From:
The Australian

UK claims first map to identify ‘Australia’ made by Matthew Flinders is theirs
From: AAP
January 26, 2011 4:03AM

AUSTRALIANS may claim it to be the nation’s “birth certificate” but that does not mean English authorities are going to be handing it over easily.

A campaign has been launched to take ownership of the first map to use the name “Australia”, which is currently located in the archives of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) in Taunton, Somerset.
Read the rest of this entry »

A campaign in Australia is calling for Britain to relinquish ownership of the first map to use the term Australia. The case is being styled as similar to that of the Parthenon Marbles, but in reality, it is a very different proposition. Whatever the merits of this particular case & its connection to Australia’s history, it was never owned by Australia – it was never removed from the country in dubious circumstances. Comparing such arguments, merely weakens the argument for well grounded cases such as that of the Parthenon Marbles, by comparing them to cases where the justification for restitution is far less strong.

From:
The Age (Melbourne)

Call to hand over our ‘birth certificate’
Melissa Jenkins
January 25, 2011
AAP

It’s our “birth certificate” and the Brits should hand it over.

So goes the cry on the eve of Australia Day as a campaign is launched to bring home the first map to use the name “Australia”.
Read the rest of this entry »

Following on from the recent expression of support for the return of the Elgin Marbles by the NSW state Arts Minister, the State’s Premier is also adding her endorsement to the campaign.

From:
Athens News Agency

12/24/2010
NSW premier supports return of Parthenon Marbles

Australian politician Kristina Keneally, premier of New South Wales, announced during an event for Greek-Australian media on Sunday that she has become an honorary member of the Australians for the Return of the Parthenon Marbles Committee and supports their return to Greece.

According to the radio station SBS, Keneally said the demand for the marbles return was “fair” and that they would be returning to their “rightful home”.

“The government of New South Wales is proud to support this demand for the return of the Marbles to Greece and its people,” she said.

It is hoped the a new cultural centre in Boort, Loddon Shire, will enable the return of various Aboriginal artefacts currently in the British Museum. This was of course, a large part of the purpose behind Greece’s New Acropolis Museum – which has so far met with minimal acknowledgment by the British Museum.

From:
Bendigo Advertiser

Cultural centre proposed for Boort
LAUREN HENRY
15 Dec, 2010 04:00 AM

A PROPOSED cultural and environmental centre in Boort could be an avenue for the Loddon Shire town to retrieve Aboriginal artefacts valued at $4.5 million from the British Museum.

The proposal for the multimillion dollar centre includes an art gallery, a regional museum, accommodation, a cafe and gift store to sell regional produce, and educational and conference facilities.
Read the rest of this entry »

Scotland is due to hand back some more Aboriginal artefacts to Australia following negotiations with Glasgow City Council. This follows earlier previous returns made by museums in Edinburgh.

From:
The Herald (Scotland)

Aboriginal remains reclaimed
Phil Miller, Arts Correspondent
10 Dec 2010

Glasgow’s museums are to return the skeletal remains of three indigenous Australians to their home country.

The executive committee of Glasgow City Council yesterday agreed that the remains, including skulls, be returned to the Australian Government, in the latest of a series of repatriations in the last 10 years.
Read the rest of this entry »

Virginia Judge, The New South Wales Arts Minister has called on the British Museum to return the Parthenon Marbles to Athens.

From:
Greek Reporter

Categorized | Community, News
NSW Minister for Arts Calls on British Museum to Return Parthenon Marbles
Posted on 03 December 2010 by Venetia Aftzigianni

“Today I call upon the British Museum to conduct itself as a museum, a contemporary museum, and not as some colonial power clinging to a prized trophy.” said Virginia Judge, Minister for Arts in New South Wales. Her speech was attended by David Hill, the President of the Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. The Minister added: ”I do not ask the British Museum to return a vase or some statue with a missing limb. I ask the British Museum to return half the Parthenon; return it to Greece so that it may be reunited with the rest of itself…If we agree with the Code of Ethics of the International Council of Museums, ownership of material culture, which is the result of a transaction with an occupying force, in itself is questionable and unethical.”. The Australian Minister is a member of the NSW government which has consistently supported Greek efforts to take back the Parthenon Marbles. They are also named Elgin marbles by Lord Elgin. He removed a staggering amount of panels and sculptures, including 247 feet of the Parthenon Frieze.

A conference organised by the Greek organisation AHEPA in Melbourne has decided to begin a legal battle against the British Museum for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

From:
Greek Reporter

AHEPA Initiative for Parthenon Marbles Return
Posted on 06 October 2010 by Panos Kontogiannis

A conference organized by the Greek-American progressive organization AHEPA of Australia in Melbourne has decided to begin a legal battle against the Museum of London to return the Parthenon sculptures in Greece. AHEPA of Australia made the first initiative by giving the amount of $15.000 Australian dollars for Emanuel Komninos and Victor Bizanis to start a global campaign on this issue.

Emanuel Komninos who is in charge of the first committee for returning the Parthenon sculptures and lawyer Victor Bizanis spoke among others, at the conference.
Read the rest of this entry »

Niki Dollis who has worked with the Organisation for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum for the entire duration of the project (& will be known to anyone who visited the site before the building opened), has written a book for children about the actual process of construction of the new museum & the reasons that a new museum was needed.

The book came out earlier this year – it has currently sold out, but I’ve been told that more copies are printed & it will soon be available again in the shop at the New Acropolis Museum.

From:
Greek Reporter

Greek Australian Writes Storybook: “Building the New Acropolis Museum”
Posted on 18 September 2010 by Apostolos Papapostolou

The book “Building the New Acropolis Museum” is by Niki Dollis and illustrated and designed by Elena Zournatzi. The children’s book tells the story of the realization of a dream. As Niki Dollis mentions in her introduction, it is “a book about hope, expectation… but also hard work for the construction and preparation of the New Acropolis Museum”. The storybook is published by Livanis Publishing Organization. Dollis is the Director of Mr. Pantermalis’ office, who is the head of the New Acropolis Museum.

Through the 60 pages of her book Dollis familiarizes young and all readers, with the notion of a museum. It is a very interesting subject to begin with especially when it serves as an open window to the world of ancient Greece, such as the New Acropolis Museum.
Read the rest of this entry »

The remains of an Australian Aboriginal leader that ended up in a Museum in the UK & then in an unmarked grave have no been returned to Australia & re-buried. This follows closely after the return of various Aboriginal remains by the US.

From:
One Face in a Million

Aboriginal Leader Is Finally Laid To Rest After 170 Years

Posted by Will Byrne on Jul 13th, 2010 and filed under Featured News, World

Following more than 170 years of controversy, the final remains of one of Australia’s greatest Aboriginal leaders, the Noongar chieftain, Yagan, was laid to rest during a traditional ceremony in Western Australia on Saturday.
Read the rest of this entry »

Australian MPs Virginia Judge & Barbara Perry are calling for the Britain to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Ministers lose their marbles
Gemma Jones Political Reporter
July 12, 2010 12:00AM

THE state’s infrastructure is creaking, public transport is overloaded and the hospital system is sick – but two Government ministers seem more interested in 2500-year-old marbles.

Arts Minister Virginia Judge and Local Government Minister Barbara Perry have decided to dabble in foreign affairs by demanding the return of the Elgin Marbles.
Read the rest of this entry »