Indigenous leaders on a remote island in the Gulf of Carpentaria are celebrating the return of almost 200 artefacts from the Manchester Museum. The community says getting the objects, ranging from fishing spears to shell dolls, has helped to reinvigorate their traditions of making and using them.
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00:00 A homecoming of history. 174 artifacts have made a long journey back to Groote Eiland
00:07 and welcomed warmly.
00:10 "Just doing a celebrating and we happy, we proud because the artifacts came back to where
00:17 it belongs."
00:19 These shell dolls were collected by a British anthropologist in the 1950s and then donated
00:24 to the Manchester Museum. Now they've been reunited with the Anandiliyakwa people.
00:29 "I remember playing with these because my grandmother she used to come with us and collect
00:36 them."
00:41 Spears, armbands and water carrying baskets were also amongst the returned collection.
00:46 "This is about a reconnection with the First Nations of Australia and indeed to recognise
00:53 them as the oldest living culture in the world. So for Britain today this is part of our reconciliation
01:00 journey."
01:03 Worldwide some 80 museums say they'll consider returning more artifacts.
01:08 "All institutions are at different stages in terms of their journey around considering
01:14 repatriating material and decolonising archives."
01:18 For the people of Groote Eiland, getting back objects that they still produce has affirmed
01:22 their refusal to let colonisation end their culture.
01:26 "I feel proud, happy for them to stop and come back to me for my children, grandchildren
01:33 so they can see it for future."
01:40 A welcome home well overdue.
01:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]