Aboriginal artefacts returned to Warumungu people

Warumungu representatives Jimmy Frank Jupurrula (left) and Laurance Williams Japangarti collect artefacts from Otago Museum for repatriation to Australia. Photo / Gregor Richardson, ODT

Six indigenous Australian artefacts from Otago Museum’s collection are homeward bound after a repatriation ceremony was held at the museum yesterday morning.

A boomerang, stone knives and an adze were returned to representatives of the Warumungu people in a ceremony led by mana whenua.

Warumungu representative Jimmy Frank Jupurrula said he was happy to see the artefacts returned.

The items were taken in the late 19th or early 20th century from the Tennant Creek region, in the Northern Territory.

“I feel a little bit touched to see the people from this country that looked after our artefacts ... handing them over,” he said.

They had been “embraced” by Maori, with whom they shared similarities as people affected by colonisation, he said.

They were also both warrior people, in the past and in their present day fight for rights.

A shield and boomerang he had made and gifted during the ceremony represented this.

“The artefacts are symbols [of] a very fighting people, a very strong people.”

It was also a promise of the bond between two first nations.

Museum director of collections and research Robert Morris said it was the first repatriation of Australian aboriginal items from New Zealand, along with items returned by Auckland Museum earlier this week.

It was an important step in the decolonisation process for museums, he said.

In the past there had been a lack of understanding of the spiritual and ancestral significance of objects taken.

He hoped this could lead to the return of Maori artefacts to New Zealand in the future.

Australian Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said the return of the artefacts was a significant moment for the Warumungu people.