Asia-Pacific News

Legal fight over Aboriginal bones in London

Feb 22, 2007, 7:19 GMT

Sydney - Australian Aborigines campaigning to repatriate the bones of their ancestors from European museums were Thursday watching the outcome of a court case in London. The Australian government is fighting its British counterpart over the legality of scientists at London's Natural History Museum testing the bones of 17 Aborigines it holds in its collection. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre is seeking a legal ruling that would make permanent an interim injunction stopping the tests. 'It's unfortunate we have now been forced to take this step,' Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said in a statement issued in Canberra. In November the museum agreed to return the remains, but announced it would test them first. The skulls and bones were taken by colonialists in the 1800s. The remains of 2,500 Aborigines are thought to be still in foreign museums. Around 200 bags of bones have been repatriated in the past decade. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Legal fight over Aboriginal bones in London

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