Skulls are heading home to Australia
HUMAN remains were reclaimed from Scotland’s Capital yesterday by a delegation of indigenous Australians.
HUMAN remains were reclaimed from Scotland’s Capital yesterday by a delegation of indigenous Australians.
National Museums Scotland (NMS) handed over six Aboriginal skulls, while Edinburgh University returned a fragment of bone from a woman’s ear.
A delegation from the Ngarrindjeri people travelled to Edinburgh to accept ownership of their ancestors’ remains and burned eucalyptus leaves in front of Edinburgh University’s McEwan Hall to mark the occasion.
Tom Trevorrow, of the Ngarrindjeri Heritage Committee, said the remains could now be laid to rest. “Indigenous peoples have been waiting a long time for this to take place.”
Dr John Scally, director of the University of Edinburgh Collections, said: “Over the past decade we have been returning human remains to the Aboriginal cultures which they came from.”