Munich's Five Continents Museum on Tuesday gave Australia back the remains of an indigenous ancestral king that had been in German possession since 1889.

The handover ceremony, which was attended by German officials, the Australian ambassador to Germany and an elder from the Yidinji people, is the first of three set to take place this month in what Australia has called a record return.

The museum's move is in line with recommendations made by German museum experts in 2013 that call for human remains in museums and collections to be returned to their places of origin upon a well-founded request.

Read more: German museum to return stolen grave artifacts to Alaskans

The handover ceremony of indigenous remains in Munich opened with incense burning

Record returns from Germany

A total of 53 Australian indigenous remains are scheduled to be repatriated from Germany in April, with Stuttgart's Linden Museum, Saxony's state ethnographic collection and Martin Luther University near Leipzig also set to return remains in their possession.

Australia's minister for communications and the arts, Mitch Fifield, described this as "the largest number of ancestors returned from Germany to date."

"The [Australian] Government would like to thank the German state governments and the collecting institutions for their commitment to recognizing the significance of repatriation for all Australians, which contributes to healing and reconciliation," Fifield added.

At the handover ceremony in Munich on Tuesday, Bernd Sibler, the arts and science minister for the state of Bavaria, said his state was committed to a "transparent approach to collections from the colonial era," in coordination with indigenous representatives.

Read more: Protests across Australia against 'Invasion Day' holiday

Australia's ambassador to Germany, Lynette Wood, attended the ceremony in Munich

Different communities of origin

Yidinji elder Gudju Gudju Fourmile was present in Munich to receive the remains of his tribe's ancestral king, which were draped in the flag of Australia's native peoples. He described the proceedings as moment of mourning but also of happiness.

Researchers reportedly stole the Yidinji king's remains in 1876 during a burial ceremony, perhaps in an attempt to finance their expedition. The remains of the king's wife were also stolen and but have not been located to this day.

The Yidinji people hail from a tropical rainforest area located on Australia's northeast coast.

Fourmile used the ceremony to call for the recognition of native peoples as sovereign communities

Other remains will be handed back to representatives of the Yawuru people, while others still will be examined further upon their return to Australia in order to identify their communities of origin.

The native peoples of Australia occupied the land for more than 50,000 years before being violently displaced by settlers two centuries ago.

The controversy over Australia Day January 26 January 26 is Australia's national day. It marks the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson in Sydney in 1788. The Australian government describes Australia Day as a day to "celebrate all the things we love about Australia." But for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, January 26 marks the beginning of the loss of their culture, people and land.

The controversy over Australia Day 'Invasion Day' The movement to change the date of Australia Day is continually growing in Australia. This year, tens of thousands of people attended rallies across the country in support of Indigenous Australians and to call on the government to change the date. January 26 is often referred to as Invasion Day or Survival Day by Indigenous people and those who support moving Australia Day to a different day.

The controversy over Australia Day Citizenship ceremonies January 26 is also the day that thousands of people across the country become Australian citizens. The biggest ceremony was held in the city of Parramatta in Sydney, with 1,450 people. New citizen James Golestani, 52, told Australian broadcaster SBS that he came from Iran and is of Persian ethnicity. "I feel really, really on top of the world. All of my dreams came true today," Golestani said.

The controversy over Australia Day 'Change the date' A number of councils had their power to hold citizenship ceremonies revoked in 2019, after they voted to change the January 26 date for their citizenship ceremonies out of respect for Indigenous Australians. This led Prime Minister Scott Morrison to devise an Australia Day plan that would oblige all councils across Australia to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 from the year 2020.

The controversy over Australia Day Alternative dates A number of alternative dates have been put forward as replacements for January 26. One is May 27, the date in 1967 that Australia held a referendum to include Indigenous Australians in the census. March 12 is another, on this date in 1913, Australia's capital city Canberra was officially named. A popular one is also May 8, due to it sounding similar to one of Australia's most used words — "mate." Author: Louisa Wright



Skeletons taken for racist research

Skeletal remains of Australia's native peoples were taken by scientists and researchers in the late 19th and early 20th century and placed in museums, universities and collections around the world where they were then subject to purported "biological research" based on racist typology.

Over the past 30 years, Australian officials have supported the "unconditional" return of more than 1,500 indigenous ancestral remains held worldwide.

Up until now, Germany had returned 51 human remains to Australia.

cmb/jm (AFP, dpa)

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