The University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum has repatriated 16 human crania to Papua New Guinea.
The skulls, taken from Papua New Guinea’s Rai Coast in 1876-1877, were officially returned in a ceremony at Gorendu in Madang Province held on Wednesday 19 February. Following songs of mourning, festivities across the day included speeches, sing-sing dancing and feasting with representatives from six local villages.
These villages were home to the people whose crania were given to Russian scientist Nickolai N. Miklouho-Maclay in the late 19th century, when he undertook a scientific expedition in Papua New Guinea. In his journal, Miklouho-Maclay said the skulls were acquired only when freely given and were not exhumed remains. In 1888 they became part of the collections of the Macleay Museum, a constituent collection in what is now the Chau Chak Wing Museum.
On his arrival in Sydney in 1878, Miklouho-Maclay began working with William John Macleay (NB different spelling of Macleay, the two were not related), a fellow natural history enthusiast whose philanthropy enabled the creation of the University of Sydney’s Macleay Museum in 1887. Much of Miklouho-Maclay's enormous history and ethnography collection was given to the Russian Institute of Science, where it remains today. The crania were donated to the Macleay Museum by his widow following his death. That museum became part of the Chau Chak Wing Museum in 2020.
They departed the Rai Coast aboard a Russian Corvette and returned on a Boeing Jet. Their journey spans time and distance and we extend gratitude to the Chau Chak Wing Museum for reuniting us.
Jack Simbou
Deputy Secretary, Department for Community Development and Religion, Papua New Guinea
Museum staff have been in contact with descendants on the Rai Coast for more than 40 years, engaging with them on items from its collections, including the skulls. The repatriation follows a formal request, in April 2024, for their return to Papua New Guinea.
Chau Chak Wing Museum Senior Curator Dr Jude Philp accompanied the crania on their return journey.
“Repatriating these ancestors to their homeland was an immense honour,” Dr Philp said.
“My thanks go to all who welcomed them. We look forward to continuing our relationships with the people from the Rai Coast.”
Jack Simbou, a Deputy Secretary at Papua New Guinea’s Department for Community Development and Religion, said welcoming ancestors was a moving experience for the community.
Met by men dressed as warriors, the blue boxes containing the 16 ancestral remains were unloaded and taken up to ceremony space at Gorendu. Photo by Norman Ketan, NKW Photography
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Link“These ancestors were taken by Nickolai almost 150 years ago, to support his work promoting one shared humanity,” Mr Simbou said.
“They departed the Rai Coast aboard a Russian Corvette and returned on a Boeing Jet. Their journey spans time and distance and we extend gratitude to the Chau Chak Wing Museum for reuniting us."
“Like many other institutions, the Chau Chak Wing Museum is reckoning with its past collection practices,” said Chau Chak Wing Museum Director Michael Dagostino. “We work with communities across the globe to connect them with objects, artefacts and remains that once belonged to them.”
The ceremony was attended by dignitaries including Madang province governor the Honourable Ramsay Pariwa, Astrolabe Bay Local Level Government president Igu Stabie Gasom, Dr Philp, Miklouho-Maclay descendant Nickolay and councillors from villages the skulls came from: Inglam, Sandingby, Bilibili, Bongu, Ibor and Gorendu.
Men dressed as warriors met the ancestors and followed the procession to the ceremony ground, led in by singsing groups, while community watches on. Photo by Norman Ketan, NKW Photography.
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