British University Returned Remains of Slain Indigenous Australian Man
Skeleton of Slain Indigenous Man to be Repatriated from UK University
The remains of an Aboriginal man, believed to have been murdered by the colonizers in the early 19th century, are set to be returned to Tasmania for a traditional burial. The University of Aberdeen announced this on Wednesday, confirming the repatriation of the unidentified young man's skull.
The University stated that they first reached out to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in 2019 with a proposal for repatriation, which was approved the following year. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre will now conduct a ceremonial burial on the Australian island on Friday.
The remains were once part of the collection of William MacGillivray, a professor of natural history at Marischal College, a precursor of modern Aberdeen University. The university purchased MacGillivray's collection when he passed away in 1852. The sale catalog from that time described the remains as originating from a "native" of Van Diemen's Land, who was shot on the Shannon River. Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name for Tasmania.
While the exact acquisition details are scarce, what is known is that the skull – missing its lower jaw – was part of MacGillivray's collection. The skull was initially kept in the university's comparative anatomy collection before being transferred to the human culture collection in the early 2000s.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, this skull served as a tool for teaching medicine. According to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, it is plausible that the skull was removed for the trade in Aboriginal body parts. The Center believes that the killing that resulted in the skull's acquisition likely occurred in the 1820s or 1830s. They suggest that the decapitation was perpetrated by individuals connected to the murder.
Although the man's identity is unlikely to be uncovered, the Center explained that this individual belonged to the Big River tribe, the members of which were all but eradicated. Andy Sculthorpe of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre emphasized the significance of repatriation, stating, "We applaud the institutions that have the courage to acknowledge their past mistakes and do what is right by those they have wronged."
The University of Aberdeen has a procedure in place for considering repatriation, as exemplified by its return of a Benin bronze to Nigeria in 2021. Neil Curtis, the university's head of museums and special collections, expressed, "It would be unacceptable for these ancestral remains to be used for research, teaching or exhibitions purposes. We are pleased that the remains of this young man can now be handed over to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for appropriate burial in his homeland."
- The Aboriginal man who will be repatriated from the University of Aberdeen's collection is believed to have belonged to the Big River tribe in Australia, an indigenous group that was almost eradicated in the 19th century.
- The world saw a rare instance of admission and rectification of past wrongs, as the University of Aberdeen, in a similar fashion to its return of a Benin bronze to Nigeria in 2021, is now preparing to return the remains of an Aboriginal man to his homeland in Tasmania.
- The case of the Aboriginal man's skull, once taught as part of a procedure in 19th and early 20th-century medical institutions, is now set to be given the unlikely reprieve of a traditional burial in Tasmania, Australia, more than two centuries after it was likely acquired from the Shannon River, tragically torn from its owner during the colonization era.
