Three repatriation ceremonies will be held in April to return Australian Indigenous ancestors from 5 collecting institutions in Germany.
The first ceremony will be hosted in Munich on Tuesday 9 April, where the Five Continents Museum will return the remains of a Gimuy Walubara Yidindji Ancestral King to community representatives from Cairns in Queensland.
A direct descendent of the Ancestral King, Yidindji Elder Gudju Gudju, will take custodianship of the Ancestral King and accompany his ancestor back to Australia.
In the second repatriation ceremony in Stuttgart on Friday 12 April, 8 ancestors will be returned from the University of Freiburg and 2 ancestors will be returned from the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart. These ancestors will be returned to Australia under the stewardship of the Australian Government, so they can be cared for closer to home while further work is undertaken to identify their communities of origin.
On Monday 15 April, Australian Ambassador H.E. Ms Lynette Woods will host a ceremony at the Australian Embassy in Berlin to acknowledge the return of 37 ancestors from the State Ethnographic Collections, in Saxony, and 5 ancestors from Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg.
Yawuru community representatives will be in attendance to take custodianship of 7 Yawuru ancestors being returned from the State Ethnographic Collections. Yawuru community representatives Mr Neil McKenzie, Yawuru Law Boss, and Mr David Puertollano will accompany the Yawuru ancestors’ home. The other 35 ancestors will be returned to Australia under the stewardship of the Australian Government, where further community consultation will be undertaken to return these ancestors to Country.
