Ancestral remains of Rapa Nui people begin long journey home after 143 years at Australian Museum

For 143 years, ancestral remains from a remote Polynesian island sat in the collection of the Australian Museum. Today, they are “finally going home”.

The remains of people from Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, were removed from sacred burial sites during a European naval expedition in 1882. Seventeen of the members’ remains and a sample of human hair were purchased by the museum in Sydney the following year. For over a century, they were within the natural science and culture institution which holds more than 22 million objects and specimens in its collection.

On Thursday, the ancestral remains began a long journey home, accompanied by a Rapa Nui delegation. The repatriation will be overseen by the Chilean government, given the island is a special territory of Chile.

Custodian documents were signed on Wednesday at a formal farewell ceremony at the museum, the room filled with the sounds of a Fijian farewell song, the ukulele and a ceremonial exchange by delegates.

Director and chief executive of the Australian Museum, Kim McKay said it was a special moment, not only for Australian history, but for “our wonderful brothers and sisters from Rapa Nui”. She also offered an apology on behalf of the museum during Wednesday’s ceremony, stating that the museum took remains without consent historically.

Ms McKay noted the influence of colonialism, where both the naval expedition and the museum at the time had viewed Indigenous ancestors as objects of study rather than as people. She too acknowledged the need to address archaic museum collecting practices of the past.

Laura McBride is a Wailwan woman and holds the role of director, First Nations at the Australian Museum. “My own ancestors and objects were taken from the country, so I truly understand the tensions created from the legacy of past collecting practices,” she said, admitting that it is therapeutic when new relationships are made that enable people to address the mistakes of the past and move towards historical healing.