A delegation for Easter Island's Indigenous people has travelled to London to demand the British Museum return its Hoa Hakananai'a sculpture, removed as a gift for Queen Victoria 150 years ago.

Key points: The Moai was taken from Easter Island as a gift for Queen Victoria in 1868

The Moai was taken from Easter Island as a gift for Queen Victoria in 1868 The sculpture's name, Hoa Hakananai'a, means "lost or stolen friend"

The sculpture's name, Hoa Hakananai'a, means "lost or stolen friend" Delegation has offered to swap sculpture for a contemporary Moai figure

The sculpture — one of the Chilean territory's emblematic statues — was taken by Royal Navy captain Richard Powell in 1868 as a present for the queen, who later donated it to the British Museum.

The basalt figure is one of about 900 statues, or "Moai", meaning "ancestors", carved by Polynesian islanders between 1100 and 1600 AD.

Its name, Hoa Hakananai'a, means "lost or stolen friend".

Calling for the sculpture's return, Easter Island Governor Tarita Alarcon Rapu said: "We are just a body. You, the British people, have our soul."

The return of the Moai sculpture is particularly important to Ms Alarcon Rapu, who said her 90-year-old grandmother died without having the chance to see her ancestor.

"I am almost half a century alive and this is my first time," she added.

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The statue is one of many artefacts British explorers and dignitaries took from around the globe that are displayed in the British Museum.

A number of these treasures have become the subject of intense debate and requests for their return by their countries of origin, among them the Grecian antique sculptures known as the Elgin Marbles, and the Benin Bronzes from modern-day Nigeria.

The Easter Island delegation has offered to swap the Hoa Hakananai'a for another Moai carved from stone by contemporary local sculptor Bene Tuki.

Easter Island's Moai figures were carved by islanders between 1100 and 1600 AD. ( Reuters )

"This is the first of many conversations we will have," Chile's national assets minister, Felipe Ward, who was part of the delegation said.

"We are looking forward to the next conversations and probably the second one will be in Rapa Nui", adding that he had "a glimmer of hope".

A spokesman for the British Museum said it was always willing to consider loaning out objects from its collection, "subject to the usual conditions".

Reuters