When you hear about museums returning historical artefacts back to their rightful owners, there’s an assumption that said items were originally acquired through forceful and/or violent means. And loads of them were. Right now museums in London are being urged to return items that were essentially looted and stolen, while collections all over Europe are being reunited with communities that had once been colonised and oppressed by Western nations.
In other cases, though, artefacts were acquired by more peaceful means. But that doesn’t mean that the UK is the best place for them to be. Take the Manchester Museum, for instance, which is now returning 174 objects back to the Anindilyakwa community, an Indigenous group from the Gulf of Carpentaria off the northern coast of Australia.
The move has been hailed as a landmark example of cultural repatriation because the items had simply been bought or traded in the 1950s and are pretty mundane, everyday objects. They include fishing spears, armbands, boomerangs, baskets and dolls made from shells.
They had originally been purchased by Peter Worsley, a PhD anthropology student, in the 1950s. Esme Ward, director of Manchester Museum said: ‘My understanding is that [Worsley] was building relationships with the Anindilyakwa people and I like to think he would view this as an extension of the work he started.’
Islanders were directly involved in deciding which items they would get back and which would remain in Manchester. It is expected that the artefacts will help to strengthen Anindilyakwa culture and enable new generations to better connect with their ancestry.
Krista Pikkat, director for culture and emergencies for Unesco, said that the project is a ‘truly historic and moving moment’ fuelled by ‘empathy, trust and love’.
Amethea Mamarika, an emerging leader within the Anindilyakwa community, said: ‘We are happy that the objects are going back to our homeland, where they belong so young people can follow in the footsteps of our ancestors. Thanks for keeping them safe.’
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