A ceremony to repatriate Tasmanian ancestral remains held in University of Aberdeen collections since the 1850s will take place on Friday (March 21).
The university contacted the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in 2019, which led to a proposal to return the remains of a young man. This was approved unconditionally by the university’s governing body, Court, in 2020 and the centre is now in a position to take the remains back to Tasmania where they will be laid to rest in a traditional ceremony conducted by Aboriginal people.
Details of how the remains were acquired by the university are limited, with records listing only that it was part of the collection of William MacGillivray, Regius Professor of Natural History in Marischal College. After his death in 1852, the collection was purchased by the university and in the sale catalogue it was described as ‘Native of Van Diemen's Land, who was shot on the Shannon River’.
There is no record surviving to indicate how the skull was acquired by McGillivray.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, a non-profit community-based organisation established in 1973 to provide legal, health, educational, cultural and welfare services to Aboriginal people, considers that ‘there can be no doubt that this skull was removed from the man shot at the Shannon River in order to service (the) trade in Aboriginal body parts. The decapitation was most likely performed by one of the killers, stock-keepers, property owners or lessees involved in or associated with the man’s murder’. This may have taken place in the 1820s or 1830s.
It is unlikely that the identity of the man will ever be known beyond that of his tribal group. The ‘Big River’ tribe to which he belonged is one of the many original tribes entirely wiped out and for which there are no surviving direct descendants.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre is recognised by both Australian and international governments as the only appropriate organisation to which all repatriated Tasmanian Aboriginal skeletal remains and cultural property are returned.
After acquisition by the university, the skull was kept as part of the Comparative Anatomy collection, before being transferred to the Human Culture collection in the early 2000s. It was used in medical education in the 19th and early 20th centuries but the collection is no longer used for teaching and there is no current or intended research associated with it.
Andry Sculthorpe of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre said: “Aboriginal people feel the enormous responsibility of restoring to our own country both the physical remains, and through them, the spirits of our ancestral dead.
“This is a record of racist attitudes to the study of humanity, including human remains acquired by grave robbing and other immoral activity; in this case, murder.
“We applaud the institutions that have the courage to let go of their perceptions of intellectual supremacy, embrace their own humanity and do what is right by the people who are most impacted by the atrocities they have inflicted in the past. This young man’s murder will not be forgotten and we will bring him home to rest at last.”
Neil Curtis, head of university collections at the University of Aberdeen, said: “Given the violence and racism that led to their acquisition, 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 university has a well-established procedure for considering repatriation from the collections in its care, and welcomes proposals for returning ancestral remains, sacred and other items, especially where they can be returned to the community from which they were taken. The university is also reviewing its collections to identify items that were looted or unethically returned so that it can initiate discussions as well as responding to proposals. This has included the return of a Benin Bronze in 2021, the first such return in the world by a museum.