Australian museums are storing almost 600 ancestral remains from Pacific Island nations

Inquiries have revealed two major Australian institutions are in possession of almost 600 ancestral remains from the Pacific region.

The collection includes 20 human brains stored in jars of formaldehyde, dozens of skulls and craniums — some of them decorated or stuffed, several organs, a mummified body, and at least five "long bones" belonging to a child. "CEOs that run museums, if you are holding Australian South Sea Islander or Kanaka remains, it's probably best that we sit and talk about repatriation," Mr Fatnowna said.Ms Coyne said repatriating ancestors to descendant communities was a complicated process that could take years.

"In our culture, we worship the ancestors, our ancestral spirits … and then when we need help with drought or marriage or land disputes, the ancestral spirits help us," he said. "I know that from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, that this is very proactive. It's funded. It's ceded in legislation. So, the government's well aware of it," he said.

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