Skull of Aboriginal man murdered 200 years ago to be returned to Tasmania

A ceremony to repatriate the skull of a young Tasmanian man which was used for medical education in the 19th and 20th centuries will take place on Friday.

The man was shot dead on Tasmania’s Shannon River in possibly the 1820s or 1830s, and his head removed “in order to service (the) trade in Aboriginal body parts”.

The only thing known about him is that he was a member of the Big River tribe – one of many tribes that have been completely wiped out and for which there are no surviving descendants.

The skull was acquired by William MacGillivray, regius professor of natural history at Marischal College in Aberdeen, and after his death in 1852 it was purchased by the University of Aberdeen.

It was kept by the university, initially as part of its comparative anatomy collection, and latterly its human culture collection, where during the 19th and early 20th centuries it was used for medical education.

Plans for the repatriation of the remains began when the university contacted the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) in 2019, and the return was approved unconditionally by the university’s governing body in 2020.

The remains will now be taken back to Tasmania where they will be laid to rest in a traditional ceremony conducted by Aboriginal people.

The TAC is recognised by the Australian and international governments as the only appropriate organisation to which repatriated Tasmanian skeletal remains and cultural property are returned.

In its formal request for the return of the remains, the TAC was clear about how the remains were first acquired.

“There can be no doubt that this skull was removed from the man shot at the Shannon River in order to service (the) trade in Aboriginal body parts,” it said.

“The decapitation was most likely performed by one of the killers, stock-keepers, property owners or lessees involved in or associated with the man’s murder”.

Andry Sculthorpe of the TAC explained the importance of repatriating the remains back to Tasmania.

“Aboriginal people feel the enormous responsibility of restoring to our own country both the physical remains, and through them, the spirits of our ancestral dead,” he said.

“This is a record of racist attitudes to the study of humanity, including human remains acquired by grave robbing and other immoral activity; in this case, murder.

“We applaud the institutions that have the courage to let go of their perceptions of intellectual supremacy, embrace their own humanity and do what is right by the people who are most impacted by the atrocities they have inflicted in the past.

“This young man’s murder will not be forgotten and we will bring him home to rest at last.”

Neil Curtis, head of university collections at the University of Aberdeen said: “Given the violence and racism that led to their acquisition, it would be unacceptable for these ancestral remains to be used for research, teaching or exhibitions purposes.

“We are pleased that the remains of this young man can now be handed over to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for appropriate burial in his homeland.”

The university said it has an established procedure for considering repatriation from its collections, and that it welcomes proposals for returning ancestral remains, sacred and other items, particularly when they can be returned to their original communities.

It added it is currently reviewing its collections to identify items that were looted or unethically acquired so it can initiate discussions as well as responding to proposals.

This has included, it said, the return of a Benin Bronze in 2021, which was the first such return in the world by a museum.