Ancient tree stolen 100 years ago flying home to Australia
Over 135,000 Aboriginal cultural items are held in collections overseas. One of them is about to be returned home.
An ancient, carved tree will be returned to Australia around a century after it was cut down and shipped to Europe. It was one of several “dhulu” stolen from a Gamilaraay ceremonial site beside a creek in northeast NSW in 1917.
The tree had been kept inside a vault at Switzerland’s Basel Museum of Cultures after it was purchased from a museum by a collector in 1939. Negotiations to return the item have taken years, with Yahoo News first reporting the discovery of the item by Monash University and the mission to return it to the Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) community in 2022.
A year later, the government-funded Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) became involved, bringing to the table expertise and much-needed funds — each return event costs upwards of $100,000.
Its CEO Leonard Hill spoke to Yahoo News from Paris, as he prepared to secure its return at a handover ceremony that took place on Thursday (local time). “This is the first time under this program that a dhulu has been returned. So that's extra special in itself,” he said.
“Returning of cultural heritage material supports communities in revitalising their culture. It is an important part of working towards reconciliation, and strengthening the transfer of knowledge within communities that enables truth-telling and healing from one generation to the next,” he added.
How many cultural items are held in overseas collections?
Thousands of stolen Indigenous cultural items are held in overseas collections. This year, AIATSIS wrote to over 380 institutions calling for negotiations to begin so they can be returned.
“We have about 115 overseas institutions that have agreed to actively work with us on the return of material. From their catalogue records, we estimate that's something like 135,000 items that are held overseas,” Hill said.
“From our estimations though, that number is vastly under-representative of really how much material is held overseas.”
Ahead of the dhulu’s return, Gamilaraay elder Greg Bulingha Griffiths and Gamilaraay representative Wayne Griffiths Jnr issued a statement saying the item was “deeply significant” to the community.
“It represents more than just an artefact coming back; it’s a reconnection to our ancestral heritage and the teachings that have sustained our community for thousands of generations. The dhulu carries the stories, values, and wisdom of our ancestors,” they said.
The museum's Dr Anna Schmid said negotiations showed openness, mutual respect and a sense of humour. "This collaboration showed us once again that museums are not only teaching but also learning institutions — and there is truly a lot to learn," she said.
The dhulu were used during the initiation ceremony of boys and the carved markings tell the stories of specific families. As part of the handover ceremony, the Basel Museum of Cultures was handed a newly carved dhulu by the Gamilaraay.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy welcomed the item’s return, saying safeguarding Indigenous cultural heritage “ensures the stories of our ancestors are passed on and shared for generations to come”.
Gamilaraay continues fight against dispossession
Indigenous communities had their land and cultural items stolen from them following the arrival of European settlers.
According to many in the Gamilaraay community, the fight to safeguard culture is far from over. This year, it began action in the Federal Court to oppose a Federal Government-backed plan to allow energy giant Santos to drill their land for methane gas.
Gamilaraay elder Polly Cutmore accused the Federal Government of handing them an “olive branch” by helping facilitate the return of the dhulu, while simultaneously continuing their “cultural theft” of land, resources and heritage.
Cutmore is one of 62 Indigenous community leaders who have declared Resources Minister Madeleine King not welcome on their land, accusing her of snubbing them in negotiations with the gas industry that will expand operations in Australia.
Speaking to Yahoo News on Friday she said her people must be given control of their lands, much of which they can’t access because of resource extraction and farming.
“We’re kept off our land, we can’t go back there. You can’t shake our hands whilst continuing with colonial ways,” she said.
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