The Smithsonian Institute has returned the remains of nine Aborigines to Australia. This follows the numerous recent examples set by museums in the UK who have returned similar remains under the terms of the Human Tissue Act.

From:
The Australian

Ancestral remains returning from US
Lanai Vasek
The Australian
July 05, 2010 12:00AM

THE ancestral remains of nine indigenous Australians will finally return home today after 60 years in a museum in the US.

The remains — taken from their burial places during the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land — were handed back to indigenous representatives at a traditional smoking ceremony in Washington DC over the weekend.
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An initiative in Australia aims to eventually finance legal action in the British high court in favour of returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece. There have been many attempts at legal action in the past, but as far as I’m aware, not have progressed beyond initial discussions, due either to lack of funding or being persuaded by one of the sides in the case to drop the issue. There are still many however that believe that this would be the best way to try & initialise proper negotiations on the issue involving all parties.

From:
Greek Reporter

New move for return of the Parthenon marbles with a legal challenge before the English courts
Posted on 21 June 2010 by Apostolos Papapostolou

Under an initiative of AHEPA of NSW and the Greek Australian Committee for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, Greeks of the Diaspora are bound to set up an international fund to finance an action in the English High Court for the return of the Parthenon Marbles. The idea belongs to Victor Bizanis (photo), President of AHEPA of NSW. Below you will find the full article written by Victor Bizanis, published in greekaustralian.com.au:
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Greek-Australian writer Christos Tsiolkas has won the Commonwealth Writers Prize. When he meets the Queen, he says that he plans to ask her to return the Parthenon Sculptures.

While the Queen has not got the power to return the Parthenon Sculptures, her endorsement of campaigns for their return would carry a lot of wait. I wish him luck & look forward to hearing what the response was.

From:
Global Greek World

Monday, March 22, 2010
Global Greeks: Greek Australian Award Winning Writer Christos Tsiolkas – “I Will Ask the Queen to Return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece…”

Christos Tsiolkas is ‘one of Australia’s pre-eminent contemporary novelists’ (The Age).

Born, raised and educated in Melbourne where he continues to live, Christos is one of our Global Greek Writers and one of twelve of Australia’s best writers who recently came together at Melbourne Town Hall for a night of celebration and reflection, sharing the common and different experiences that define Australia’s past and present, to mark the opening of Australia’s newest cultural institution, The Wheeler Centre.
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Various Australian MPs with Greek origins are campaigning to raise awareness of the campaign to reunify the surviving Parthenon Sculptures in Athens.

From
Hellenic News of America

AUSTRALIAN POLITICIANS TAKE ACTION ON RETURN OF PARTHENON SCULPTURES

The annual meeting of the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association (WHIA – Oceania Region) in Perth resolved to increase public awareness of the issue of the return of the Parthenon Sculptures from the British Museum to Greece, said WHIA President, John Pandazopoulos MP.

Mr Pandazopoulos said that the opening of the new Acropolis Museum removes a major obstacle in Britain’s argument that there was no suitable venue to exhibit the famous sculptures.
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Australian Aboriginal representatives are in the UK to lobby the Wellcome Trust, Oxford & Cambridge Universities for the return of Aboriginal remains held in their collection – something that they are likely to be successful with, based on their track record in recent years since the introduction of the Human Tissue Act 2004.

They are also discussing another entirely separate case – that of a sculpted bus of the last true Aboriginal from Tasmania, claiming that it is racist art. I’m in two minds about this case – whilst I respect their views & the original motivation for creation of the bust may in part have been motivated by a racially prejudiced world view, there is no evidenced that this is what the sculpture is now being used to portray. This is not something that physically ever belonged to the Aborigines, but instead they are laying claim to a likeness or representation, something that could set a very uncomfortable precedent if they were successful. One possible compromise would of course be to remove the artefact from display, but still to retain ownership of it. Another might be for more informative signage to indicate to visitors the issues surrounding the piece. Because the bust is currently in the British Museum, the British Museum Act’s anti-deaccessioning clauses would rule out the possibility of any form of outright return – at present if those asking for the artefact have plans for circumventing this.

From:
Artinfo

Aboriginal Remains, And a Bust, Sought From U.K.
Published: September 17, 2009

HOBART, Australia—She’s the most famous historical figure from the Tasmanian Aboriginal community in Australia, and 130 years after her death, representations of Truganini in the form of busts have provoked a continuing controversy.

Last month the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in Hobart stopped a Sotheby’s auction in Melbourne from selling busts of Truganini and her husband, Woureddy. Now, representatives of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community have flown to Britain in hopes of reclaiming another copy of Truganini’s bust, along with remains of other ancestors held by medical and academic institutions in the U.K.
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Father Steven Scoutas from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia has written detailed & pragmatic account of his own visit to the New Acropolis Museum, partly as a response to the very negative article on the Elgin Marbles by Richard Dorment in the Daily Telegraph.

From:
Greek Australian Vema

Greek Australian Vema, August, 2009
The New Acropolis Museum – Raising the bar on cultural morality

After reading Richard Dorment’s tirade on the new Acropolis Museum “The Elgin Marbles will never return to Athens – the British Museum is their rightful home” (Daily Telegraph, London, 30th June 2009), I thought to myself “Wow, I hope he hasn’t bet his house on this”.

I was neither surprised nor angered by his article. Just disappointed. Not by his regurgitation of the now desperately outmoded stance of the British Museum, but that this otherwise distinguished journalist and chief art-critic of the London Telegraph would turn clairvoyant to back up a story. Surely the future is a phase of time which remains unpredictable, even to contemporary ‘Delphian’ oracles.
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This article has a few additional details about the discussions over the potential return of some Aboriginal artefacts in UK Museums.

From:
Thinking Australia

UK Move On Aboriginal Art

Negotiations between Australia and UK could soon re-start in a battle over the return of valuable Aboriginal artworks, writes Nick Gibson.

The Dja Dja Wurrung tribe are seeking the return of a pair of Aboriginal bark paintings – insured for more than $1m – that originate from Lake Boort, north-west of Melbourne.
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There have been many cases in recent years where museums in the UK have returned Aboriginal artefacts that consist of (or incorporate) human remains. New negotiations involving bark etchings however are interesting, as there is no clear indication from the article that there is any connection with human remains. Technically this would mean that the British Museum was legally forbidden from returning them, although there is the possibility of some form of loan, as was used with the Kwakwaka’wakw mask returned to Canadian first Nations people.

From:
Melbourne Sun Herald

British Museum may hand back Aboriginal artifacts
AAP
July 22, 2009 12:21pm

THE British Museum has begun talks with Victorian Aboriginals about the possible return of rare bark etchings believed to be more than 150 years old.
The three etchings, estimated to be worth more than $1 million, have been held in London for many years after their collection by Victorian landowner John Hunter Kerr near Lake Boort in the 1850s.

When they were lent to Museum Victoria along with a ceremonial headdress for a temporary display in 2004, members of the Dja Dja Wurrung tribe dramatically seized hold of them and demanded they be returned to the Boort area.
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An art installation in Melbourne aims to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum, along with other repatriation cases around the world.

From:
GRReporter

Black Parthenon magic
14 July 2009 :: 11:28:19

A mourning installation appeared in Melbourne in the beginning of July, called “The Black Parthenon.” With the help of a black canvas in chiaroscuro lighting and quirked in a way, which resembles the original Athenian Acropolis, the Greek origin artist Konstantinos Dimopoulos expressed his support for the return of the Parthenon marbles back to Athens.

During the day the black tone installation looks like a funeral alter, which symbolizes the feeling of loss. The author dedicates it to all countries, who have become a subject of cultural-historic heritage theft. During the night, the installation is lid in bright blue and white tones, which make the Black Parthenon stand out and its silhouette reminds of the real Acropolis.
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Whilst some museums refuse to return (or even allow access to) artefacts despite extensive pressure put on them to do so, one institution has returned an artefact without even being asked. The reason for this action was that the museum felt that it was the right thing to do.

From:
Modern Ghana

5th July 2009
NOT ALL HAVE ABANDONED MORALITY IN THE RESTITUTION OF CULTURAL ARTEFACTS BY WESTERN MUSEUMS
By Kwame Opoku, Dr.

Sometimes, certain acts occur which make us believe that there is still chance for humankind and that not all persons have allowed themselves to be swept by greed and thirst for power over others.

The report about the return by Seattle Art Museum (SAM) to Australian Aborigines of a ceremonial object, without being requested by the owners, may appear to many as a small matter in itself. However, when one takes into account the discussions on restitution of cultural objects to their rightful owners, this act acquires added significance.*
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With only days before the New Acropolis Museum opens, two former Australian Prime Ministers have reiterated their long-standing support for the reunification of the Elgin Marbles to Athens.

From:
Sydney Morning Herald

Old political foes call for return of lost marbles
Anthony Stavrinos
June 14, 2009

FORMER prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser have united behind fresh efforts urging Britain to return the Parthenon sculptures to Greece.

They are co-patrons of Australians For The Return Of The Parthenon Marbles (ARPM), which renewed its call for the artefacts’ return as Greece prepares to officially open the Acropolis Museum.
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More coverage of the most recent agreement by a British institution to return Aboriginal remains from its collection.

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 13:56 GMT, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 14:56 UK
Museum returns Aboriginal remains

Members of an Aboriginal tribe held a ritual in front of Liverpool’s World Museum to mark the repatriation of human remains to Australia.

A skull is being returned to representatives of the Ngarrindjeri people because it has strong spiritual and religious significance.
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