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Sydney: A group of Aboriginal elders yesterday left Australia for the United States to bring home the remains of 33 ancestors from the Smithsonian Institute, the first Aboriginal remains to be returned from the US.
Aborigines have fought for decades for the return of ancestral remains from universities and museums where they have been taken for scientific and anthropological studies.
Aborigines have inhabited Australia for some 45,000 years and have the world's longest living culture. They believe that their spirit can not settle until it is reunited with their land, which they regard as their mother.
"Sixty years after leaving our shores, these are the first indigenous Australian remains to be returned from a major American institution," said Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin.
The remains of 33 Aborigines from the Gunbalanya and Groote Eylandt communities in Arnhem Land in northern Australia are held in the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History.
Scientific expedition
In 1948 the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land collected the remains of 46 Aborigines from four communities in Arnhem Land.
Aboriginal elder Jacob Nayinggul believes the collection may include the remains of their grandmothers.
"Most of us can only begin to imagine how the grandchildren and great-grandchildren must be feeling, knowing that they will soon be able to lay their ancestors to rest," Macklin said.
On their arrival in Australia, Aborigines will stage ancient welcoming home ceremonies before laying the remains to rest.
Australia's government is currently negotiating the repatriation of indigenous remains with a number of countries.
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