[MSN] British museum hands over Aboriginal remains

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British museum hands over Aboriginal remains
Email Print Normal font Large font Julia May, London
April 28, 2007

THE Tasmanian Aboriginal community is claiming a partial victory in its
20-year battle to bring home the remains of its ancestors, as Britain's
Natural History Museum has agreed to hand over four of the 17 remains it
holds.

But the Tasmanians have another fight ahead as they take on Britain's two
most famous universities and a second national museum for Aboriginal remains
they possess.

Two representatives from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Greg Brown and
Caroline Spotswood, arrived in London yesterday to start mediation with the
Natural History Museum. They are trying to stop it from scientifically
testing the remains of 17 Aborigines it holds. Those remains are due to be
returned to Tasmania for burial.

On the eve of their departure, the museum agreed to hand over four remains
on which it has completed testing. The handover ceremony was due to take
place yesterday London time, at the museum in South Kensington.

In a statement Ms Spotswood said: "These remains, together with those of 13
more of our people, were removed without any Aboriginal consent from
Tasmania during the 1880s and we have been fighting since the 1980s for
their return. Greg and I are both proud and honoured to be able to take them
home to lay their tormented spirits to rest."

A spokeswoman said the museum was trying to stick to a previously agreed
deadline of March 31 for the return of all 17 remains. "We wanted to keep
our original promise," she said.

The Tasmanians will also attempt to reclaim remains held by Oxford and
Cambridge universities and National Museums Scotland.

"Here is an opportunity for them in goodwill to say, 'OK, because of what's
happening (with the Natural History Museum) . we would like to offer you the
remains while you're here,' " Mr Brown said.

He said the universities and the Scottish museum had not released any
details of testing. "We would be extremely disappointed if they are being
tested on," he said.

Last year two other representatives from the centre, Leah Brown and Adam
Thompson, met the three organisations to lobby for the remains.

Cambridge University holds four Aboriginal skulls and possibly two jawbones.
A spokesman said that it was still developing its policy on human remains.

Oxford University confirmed that the centre had requested the return of four
Aboriginal hair samples that it has tested for DNA. In the 2006 discussions,
the university suggested that it may not even deem hair to constitute human
remains.

Last year National Museums Scotland showed Ms Brown and Mr Thompson an
Aboriginal skull. It told The Age that repatriation requests were considered
on a case-by-case basis.

Mediation between the Tasmanians and the Natural History Museum will start
next Wednesday to bypass a costly hearing in the British High Court. The
Tasmanians are trying to stop further scientific tests. These include
drilling into bones and teeth to extract DNA and making plaster casts of
teeth and jaws.

"Testing is culturally offensive to us; we see that for us to lay our old
fellas and their spirits to rest, we need to bring them back intact without
this experimentation," Mr Brown said.

The case is so sensitive that each side has appointed a co-mediator to
ensure independence: the former NSW chief justice Sir Laurence Street, for
the Tasmanians, and a respected British legal reformer, Lord Harry Woolf,
for the museum.

Sir Laurence said he was confident the two parties could reach a conclusion.
"We'll work it out," he said.

I'm sure that Lord Woolf and I will have no trouble finding a rapport and
finding a way to move forward."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/british-museum-hands-over-aboriginal-
remains/2007/04/27/1177459980652.html#