Scotland hands back Australian Aboriginal remains
Updated
![A smoking ceremony was held to celebrate the handing back of remains of the Ngarrindjeri people from South Australia. [Reuters]](http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/img/news/base/aus_aboriginal_rtr_070708.jpg "A smoking ceremony was held to celebrate the handing back of remains of the Ngarrindjeri people from South Australia. [Reuters]")
A smoking ceremony was held to celebrate the handing back of remains of the Ngarrindjeri people from South Australia. [Reuters]
The remains of Australian Indigenous people have been handed over to their descendants at a ceremony in Scotland.
Four delegates from South Australia's Ngarrindjeri people travelled to Scotland to take home the remains which were previously housed at Edinburgh University and the Museum of Scotland.
The remains, including six skulls and an ear bone, were handed back in a small private ceremony in Edinburgh.
After the handover of a fragment of bone from a woman's ear, the delegation moved on to the nearby Museum of Scotland to collect six human skulls, also dating back to the 19th century.
The Director of Collections at the National Museum of Scotland, Jane Carmichael, says the involvement of the Australian Government helped facilitate the process.
"There was government intervention at the highest level between Australia and Britain, and as a result it was made easier for items to be repatriated," she said.
The ritual marked the end of a decade-long fight to repatriate the remains, which were acquired by the university more than 100 years ago.
