The remains of 41 Aboriginal Australians brought to Europe to be displayed in museums were returned to their descendants at a ceremony in Berlin on Monday.

The handover is the largest ever repatriation of Aboriginal remains taken from Australia during the colonial era.

Representatives of the Yawuru indigenous group from Western Australia were present at the Australian embassy in Berlin to collect the remains of seven of their ancestors from the German State Ethnographic Collections.

The ceremony comes a week after the remains of a king of the Yidindji people from northern Queensland were handed over to one of his direct descendants by the Munich Five Continents Museum.

Germany has committed itself to returning human remains from around the world held in its collections, and a total of 53 sets of Aboriginal Australian remains have been handed over in a series of ceremonies this month.

“The Australian government welcomes the return of 53 Australian indigenous ancestors this month,” Mitch Fifield, the Australian minister for communications and the arts said in a statement.