05.12.2024
Ethnologisches Museum
Human remains that had previously been housed in the collection of the Ethnologisches Museum of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin were restituted to Australia on 5 December 2024.
In cooperation with the Australian Embassy, the Ethnologisches Museum organised a commemoration ceremony for the ancestors, who are now making their way home to Australia. The three ancestors were added to the Berlin museum’s collection in 1880 and were listed in the collection records as human remains. Two other ancestors who were had previously been held in the collection of the Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch Oldenburg were also returned in the course of the ceremony.
Four representatives from Ugar Island of the Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Tomson Stephen, Father Daniel Stephen, Rocky Stephen and Yessie Mosby, travelled to Berlin in order to accompany their Ugaram Le Omasker ancestors on their homeward journey. The Australian Ambassador to Berlin, H.E. Natasha Smith, was also in attendance. The Australian government had previously been in dialogue with the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) for several years regarding ancestral remains from the collections of the Ethnologisches Museum.
By restituting these ancestral remains, we seek to honour our responsibility as an institution . We are deeply sorry that this historical injustice was committed and consider it our duty to help redress it by taking this important first step.
Lars-Christian Koch, director of the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Since 2011, the Australian government has had an Indigenous Repatriation Program in place to assist Indigenous Australians with reclaiming ancestral remains from overseas and transporting them back to Australia – an initiative for which the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts is responsible. It is with this government department that the SMB negotiated its repatriation agreements: in cases where the Traditional Custodians can be identified, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications will notify them of the repatriation of their ancestors; if the Traditional Custodians cannot be identified, the ancestors will be placed in the stewardship of the Australian government so that they can be cared for closer to home.