After more than a century off Country, six Warumungu artefacts are coming home.
The objects were taken from Warumungu community in the Northern Territory's Tennant Creek region by British-born anthropologist Baldwin Spencer and telegraph station master James Field sometime in the late 19th century.
They include a kalpunta (boomerang), palya/kupija (adze) and a group of marttan (stone knives) which were all kept at the Tūhura Otago Museum in Dunedin in New Zealand.
The museum came to acquire the objects after trades with well-known amateur archaeologist and ethnologist Fredrick Vincent Knapp in 1910 and the Museum Victorian in 1923 and 1937.
Now, through negotiations, the’ Return of Cultural Heritage (RoCH) team has confirmed the return of the six Warumungu objects.
Tūhura Otago to Tennant Creek
Senior Warumungu man, Michael Jones, said he was glad to have them come home.
“Them old things, they were carved by the old people who had the songs for it, too. I’m glad these things are returning back,” he said.
“The museums are respecting us, and they’ve been thinking about us. They weren’t the ones who took them, they just ended up there. We can still teach the young people now about these old things and our culture.”
Mr Jones was one of many senior Warumungu men who, in September of 2021, met virtually with staff at the Tūhura Otago Museum and members of the museum’s Māori Advisory Committee.
Senior Warumungu man Michael Jones Credit: AIATSIS
The men spoke about the cultural significance of the objects and why they belonged at home on Country.
In June of this year, a repatriation request and research report submitted by the Warumungu men and AIATSIS was approved.
A delegation of Warumungu people will travel with the RoCH team later this year to bring their objects home. They will then be displayed at the Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre in Tennant Creek.
Tūhura Otago Museum’s Director of Collections, Research and Education Robert Morris said they are looking forward to welcoming the Warumungu people and the RoCH team to Dunedin for the handover”.
'For future generations'
AIATSIS CEO Craig Ritchie thanked both the Museum’s Māori Advisory Committee, Trust Board, and staff for both the repatriation process to this point, and for their care of the objects.
Mr Ritchie expressed the importance of communities having ownership of and access to their cultural objects.
“Storytelling is integral to the transmission of our cultural knowledge,” he said.
“Objects created in our communities, both sacred and secular, bear evidence of the skills of those who created them along with evidence of our cultural values. We don’t want to lose track of such storytelling aids, and our communities want a say in how they are used.”
said the repatriation was a “significant moment for the Warumungu people” and a fundamentally part of “truth-telling and reconciliation”.
“Repatriations like these are critical for the transfer of knowledge and cultural maintenance and revitalisation for future generations,” she said.
She said the partnership between all parties recognised “the importance of cultural heritage to identity”.
