Annex 1
REPATRIATING TASMANIAN SKELETAL REMAINS,
1970s-1997
REPATRIATING HUMAN
REMAINS FROM
TASMANIA AND
AUSTRALIA
The TAC's campaign for the return of ancestral
skeletal material began in the 1970s. Much public pressure was
brought to bear on the state government. The Tasmanian Museum
Act 1950 was amended in 1974 and 1976 to allow Trukanini's skeleton
to be returned from the Tasmanian Museum where it had been since
1878. Attention then turned to the infamous Crowther collection,
made up of three skeletons and 34 skulls dug up early this century
from the cemetery at Oyster Cove. The TAC took legal action against
the Tasmanian Museum, which, although unsuccessful, brought national
and international influence to bear on the Tasmanian Government.
Late in December 1982 the Government agreed to legislate to return
the Crowther collection to the Aboriginal community.
The Museums (Aboriginal Remains) Act 1984 was
passed by the state parliament in November 1984 to allow the handing
over of all Tasmanian Aboriginal remains held in the two Tasmanian
museums. By 1986 most Aboriginal skeletal remains held in Tasmanian
museums were handed to the TAC on the community's behalf. Both
museums later returned items of skeletal remains found in their
collections in 1988 and 1993.
Australian museums followed suit. The Museum
of Victoria, National Museum of Australia and South Australian
Museum returned Aboriginal remains to Tasmania between 1986 and
1989.
Australian museums continue to return skeletal
material to Tasmania as it is brought to their attention. In 1996
the National Museum returned skeletal items still in their collections,
and the South Australia Museum and the Museum of Victoria each
returned a lock of Truganini's hair.
REPATRIATING HUMAN
REMAINS FROM
THE UK
The TAC then took its campaign overseas. After
extensive lobbying between 1985 and 1991 our delegates succeeded
in having remains returned to Tasmania and Australia. Meetings
were held with some European museums to determine the extent of
their collections and guage their attitudes; however the campaign
focused on the UK, and the return of skeletal remains only was
the issue.
In 1991 Pitt Rivers Museum in England returned
five skulls and the penis of a warrior amputated in 1890 and pickled
in a jar, all Australian. Edinburgh University returned its complete
collection of 300 skulls and four skeletons, 11 of the skulls
were Tasmanian. As well, the Peterborough and Bradford museums
(UK) returned their complete collections of Australian skeletal
remains, one skull each. The Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin
returned a preserved head to Tasmania but kept the rest of their
collection.
None of five European museums documented as
having hair samples can find them. Such curios went out of vogue
so long ago who would know where they ended up. Edinburgh University
with whom we had cordial relations became so exasperated with
our repeated enquiries after the hair, they told us in their last
reply that "we do not propose pursuing the matter further
. . . [we] trust this is the last occasion we will be hearing
from you." In early November 1997, Edinburgh University found
three of the four Tasmanian hair samples we were pursuing. They
were discovered with other materials in a locked room in the Anatomy
Department during the absence of a senior staff member. The hair
was returned to the Tasmanian delegation on 1 December 1997, the
last day of their overseas trip.
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