Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to share with the Senate a story of great significance to the Warlpiri people of the Northern Territory. It's the story of the return of culturally significant objects, and it spans many decades and even thousands of kilometres overseas. Last week, on Friday, senior Warlpiri men and staff from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, also known as AIATSIS, gathered at the South Australian Museum to finally welcome home a collection of sacred objects from the USA. The return of this material was a collaboration between AIATSIS and the Warlpiri Project, a Warlpiri created and led project which works to help Warlpiri to repatriate ancestors and objects. The return of these objects from the US all the way to the desert community of Yuendumu has been a long time coming. Warlpiri elders and emerging leaders shared the significance of this moment, saying:

We're not talking about repatriation we're doing it. Senior Men are working hand in hand with younger generations to teach our Tjukurpa. We've opened the doors to create a stronger pathway for us to transfer knowledge to our younger Warlpiri. The Warlpiri Project is about learning and sharing culture on the job, younger people are learning when they are sitting next to Elders, singing along with us and walking with us. Hopefully we inspire other tribes—its significant.

The many objects were initially collected by the late Professor Nancy Munn, who was an emerita professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago during her PhD fieldwork at Yuendumu between 1956 and 1958. In 1960, in her PhD thesis, Professor Munn explained that her research could not have been possible without the support of the Warlpiri community. She wrote:

My most immediate debt is to the Warlpiri themselves. They were my friends and patient teachers, and knowing them has immeasurably enriched my own experience.

As a government, we commend AIATSIS and the Warlpiri Project for their work towards the return of these very sacred objects, taken so far away for more than 60 years. It's such a significant moment for the Warlpiri people and so important for future generations to have these precious materials returned to their rightful place.

The return of these objects is part of a larger undertaking, led by the Warlpiri Project and Warlpiri men Karl Japaltjarri Hampton and Jamie Jungaryyi Hampton with the South Australian Museum, to return Professor Munn's entire collection of archival material relating to their people and culture. Ngemba man and interim AIATSIS CEO Mr Leonard Hill said:

AIATSIS is very happy to support the return of these sacred objects. Reuniting custodians with their sacred material is a vital part of AIATSIS's global mission to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Custodians to make decisions about their cultural heritage. This repatriation further demonstrates how AIATSIS's collaborative approach to returning material builds trusting relationships between partners, supports cultural informed decision making and achieves fantastic outcomes.

The return of the objects was also facilitated by Professor Francoise Dussart, a professor of anthropology and women's gender and sexuality studies at the University of Connecticut and a close friend and colleague of Professor Munn. Professor Dussart has been working with the Warlpiri community at Yuendumu since the 1980s. As Professor Munn's literary executor for her Australian material, she recently prepared Professor Munn's personal research materials for archival deposit and return to the Warlpiri community. The senior Warlpiri men are returning these treasures to their keeping place at Yuendumu in due course.

AIATSIS has previously worked closely with the Warlpiri project to return material from the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, USA, and AIATSIS has been pioneering in the returning of both cultural and ancestral remains to Australia from all corners of the world. It leads the Australian government's Return of Cultural Heritage program that facilitates the return of much Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage material and supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in exercising sovereignty over cultural heritage material held in overseas collections.

The Return of Cultural Heritage project was established in 2018, and through the project, over 200 overseas collecting institutions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural Heritage collections were identified. Of those, at least 124 institutions shared information regarding their collections and 74 expressed an eagerness to establish a relationship with AIATSIS and/or Indigenous communities in Australia. Significantly, 44 expressed a willingness to consider a repatriation request. During this short project, the project was able to facilitate 86 returns to five language groups. Community work continues, and research has identified 302 overseas collecting institutions holding 113,000-plus Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage items. By August 2023 AIATSIS had facilitated 18 returns of 1,976 cultural heritage items to Australia, of which 154 were returned to country.

I would also like to share with the Senate a meeting I had yesterday with Aboriginal organisations from Victoria. I thank my colleague Senator Jana Stewart for her coordination and for inviting Aboriginal organisations, communities and families to the parliament to come and meet with the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese; Minister Linda Burney; and me to talk about their feelings in regard to the referendum and also our steps forward. I will put on the record how important it is for all First Nations organisations and communities across the country to make sure that your voices continue to be heard. I thank the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations; the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, VACA; the Yappera Children's Service; Bubup Womindjeka Family and Children's Centre; the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc; the Aboriginal Community Elders Services; Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative; Djirra women's and DV and legal services; the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service; First Peoples Assembly; the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation; Taungurung Land and Waters Council; and Aboriginal Housing Victoria. I'd also like to thank the Aboriginal medical services across Victoria, who I also met with in recent weeks.

As I've said here on numerous occasions, there was an urgency before the referendum and there continues to be an urgency post the referendum to close the gap in the low birth weights of First Nations babies that we see across the country. The high incarceration rates of First Nations people must be reduced. We are working on health in our prisons. I am very pleased with the work we are trying to do with the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, to ensure that we see appropriate care for First Nations people in our prisons and correction systems across the country. There have been too many deaths, and most sadly, the deaths in Western Australia—words fail me. This should not be happening in our country. So I want to have at least the opportunity, through my portfolio area of Indigenous health, to see that we have the appropriate care health wise.

In the Northern Territory, we see the work of Danila Dilba with Don Dale and also that of congress with Alice Springs corrections. Even here in Canberra, on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country, we see the work of Winnunga with the prisons and the correction system here. I look forward to going out with the staff at Winnunga, and I thank them for what they're doing to assist our First Nations prisoners with their medical care but also by ensuring that they have life post incarceration. This is the challenge for this parliament and for our country. Because we have such a high incarceration rate of First Nations people, one of the biggest difficulties they have, when they come out, is with the options for jobs and the access to employment. So we will be working very closely on that area.