A sense of relief flooded the crowd at a repatriation ceremony when the Aboriginal ancestral remains of 13 people were returned to their original home.
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The Australian Museum and Sydney University had the skeletal remains until seven months ago, when Local Aboriginal Lands Council representatives brought them back to their original land.
The recent repatriation ceremony was culturally significant as it was a way to celebrate the remains’ return to the area, and also to mourn the ancestors’ passing.
Local Kooris performed a traditional smoking ceremony to put their ancestors to rest.
With about 60 people in attendance, Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Lands Council CEO Mal McCallum said the ceremony was like a release for the elders.
“The ancestors are now back, it’s a good spiritual feeling,” he said.
The Australian Museum and the University of Sydney had different sets of remains originating from numerous sites in Batemans Bay. While information on the remains from the museum was limited, there was a detailed research paper completed on the remains from Sydney University.
They included odd bones belonging to five different people, including whole and fragmented skulls and other bones belonging to legs, arms and pelvises.
The report stated that the condition of the remains, including tooth wear in one skull, suggested they dated back to the time of European colonisation.
They were found as far back as the 1940s at several local areas that now make up Murramarang National Park.
Aboriginal Lands Council board member Basil Smith said the remains held at the Australian Museum were found about six decades ago at a land development site in Batemans Bay.
The return of Aboriginal remains is a State-wide program, involving the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water’s cultural and heritage division.
Mr Smith said this was a step forward for indigenous people.
“It’s a sign people are starting to respect Aboriginal culture and appreciate our values,” he said.
Aboriginal Lands Council chairman Les Simon and Mr Smith travelled up to Sydney to escort the remains back. Mr Smith said it was a traumatic experience.
“I was very emotional actually. We had to physically wrap the skeletal remains ourselves in paperbark.”
One of the boxes they received contained two skulls, with no bodies.
“One skull looked like it had been hit with the back of a rifle,” Mr Smith said.
“One wonders what happened to the bodies.”
