Picking the bones out of our imperial past

IT IS but a tiny example of the skeletons of colonialism, but to the Aboriginal Ngarrindjeri tribe, its safe return is priceless.

Measuring around a tenth of an inch, the fragment of bone is among the crude haul of trophies looted from the outposts of the British Empire.

Now, more than a century on from its removal, the tiny stirrup bone of an ancient Aborigine woman is on its way home.

The University of Edinburgh's rarified McEwan Hall was the scene of an Aboriginal cleansing ritual yesterday, marking the culmination of the institution's drive to return historic human remains to their homelands.

Four members of the Ngarrindjeri people headed by Major Sumner, clad in traditional dress, burned eucalyptus leaves as the ear bone began its journey back to the southern hemisphere.

Accompanied by a representative of the Australian government, the delegation also accepted ownership of six Aboriginal skulls in a hand-over on the rooftop terrace of the National Museum of Scotland.

Removed over 100 years ago to be used for the study of comparative anatomy, the relic represents the last of the university's vast collection of sacred skulls and skeletons to be repatriated.

The fragment was discovered earlier this year by archivists, who were able to identify the bone and ascertain to whom it should be returned. The bone, it transpired, was part of a skeleton repatriated in 1991, when the university began its process of returning its remains.

Along with the University of Glasgow, Edinburgh has led the way in working alongside the governments of Australia and New Zealand and the native Aboriginal people to allow the proper burial of their forebears.

The NMS trustees agreed this spring to the repatriation of the six skulls, of which four will be looked after by the Ngarrindjeri, and two by the Australian government.

The trustees also agreed earlier this year to return a Tasmanian skull to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. Eight tattooed Maori heads and two jawbones went to the National Museum of New Zealand.

Jane Carmichael, director of collections at NMS, said: "Our agreement to return these human remains to their native culture demonstrates NMS's commitment to dealing with requests for the return of human remains with respect and dignity for all parties.

"We welcome the support of the Scottish Government in enabling us to transfer these remains from our collections and are appreciative of the co-operation of the Australian government in resolving these complex and sensitive issues."

Dr John Scally, director of the University of Edinburgh collections, said:

"Times have changed dramatically since we were given these remains. But we are very happy that through returning them, we are able to build a new relationship with the indigenous people of Australia. We have been gifted a ceremonial burial pole by the Ngarrindjeri, and we hope to visit them in a few years to see where they have laid these remains to rest."

Tom Trevorrow, chair of the Ngarrindjeri Heritage Committee, said the remains could now be laid to rest in their homeland following the "positive" step.

He said: "Indigenous peoples have been waiting a long time for this process to take place."

Ethics, not law, prompts hand-over of artefacts

IN RECENT years, the guardians of Scotland's museums have been asking themselves: Who owns the past?

Increasingly, they conclude they can no longer claim the remains of distant people as their own, a decision based not on legal obligation, but on ethics.

Yesterday's repatriation of the ear bone of an ancient Aborigine woman and six skulls are the latest historic artefacts to be sent back to their homeland by Scottish museums.

Last year, nine Maori heads kept by the Marischal Museum at the University of Aberdeen were returned to the Te Papa Museum in Wellington. The skulls were sold during trade between Maoris and European explorers in the 19th century.

Three years ago, the Antipodean institution received three Maori chiefs' heads that had been donated to Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum, as well as two preserved tattooed Maori heads from Perth Museum.

It has been considered morally unacceptable for such items to be put on public display for decades, and at the beginning of the 1990s, the artefacts began to be repatriated, a process which has been ongoing ever since.

Scottish museums still have some human remains of far-off civilisations in their possession, however.

Glasgow's Hunterian Museum has skulls from Maori people and unidentified tribes in Peru.

The Marischal Museum has several mummies.