Mansell, Michael --- "The Bodysnatchers (A report on the attempts to retrieve the remains of Tasmanian Aboriginals from museums and universities both overseas and in Australia)" [1985] AboriginalLawB 80; (1985) 1(17) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 12

• The Bodysnatchers
• A Report On The Attempts To Retrieve The Remains Of Tasmanian Aboriginals From Museums And Universities Both Overseas And In Australia.
• Truganini
• Further Action
• Taking On The World

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The Bodysnatchers

by Michael Mansell

A report on the attempts to retrieve the remains of Tasmanian Aboriginals from museums and universities both overseas and in Australia.

The decision taken by Tasmanian Aborigines to send one of their community knocking on the doors of European and American museums this year for the return of the human remains of their ancestors was one taken both out of desire and frustration.

The historical treatment of Tasmanian Aborigines by government and whites generally has been consistent - consistently bad. Ranging from murder and rape, total dispossession of every inch of soil owned for over thousands of years, to policies aimed at disintegrating and assimilating the Aboriginal community, in all, these policy directions have had one common thread: no matter what, Tasmanian Aborigines were to be denied basic human rights. Frustrated though these policies may have made the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, one thing it did not do was to soften the intensity of Aboriginal determination to secure these rights. in this context the campaign for Tasmanian Aboriginal people to have the remains of their ancestors returned to them has been a classic illustration of the forces blocking their way and the success which they, alone, have achieved.

Truganini

Truganinni, foolishly referred to by racists and the ignorant as'the lost Tasmanian', died having witnessed other of her people's bodies being mutilated by 'scientists' after death. She had heard the grisly yarn of how William Lanney, another Aboriginal, had his hands and feet cut off, his head decapitated, the skin of his face used for a tobacco pouch. She also saw others grave-robbed so that scientists could study how 'primitive' these people were, one wonders who was indeed primitive.

Having been forcibly separated from the other 2,000 odd of her people because she, unlike them, was not of a European and Aboriginal parent, Truganinni knew what her fate was to be upon death. And despite her specific death wish to be cremated and her ashes scattered upon the water, white Tasmania deemed it appropriate to display her remains for years at the Tasmanian Museum in Hobart and display busts of her as 'the end of her race'.

The notion of purity of race is easily adopted by the dominant class of society, thus denying the identity of the 4,000 Aborigines in the 1970s the latter group represented a fearful group to the authorities and because of this, a shod campaign by Aborigines to have Truganinni's wish acceded to, saw success in 1976.

Further Action

In 1980, when the Aboriginal community became aware that many other of their ancestors had been dug from their grave sites to be stockpiled in Tasmanian museums, a campaign in earnest began. Initially the Liberal Government 's old 'yes' to the request for the remains to be turned overto theAboriginal people for appropriate ceremony, then 'no'. Their sudden and unheralded change of heart could only have been based on ingrained racism and political opportunism. To the delight of Aborigines the Tasmanian public generally became outraged with the Gray Liberal Government's purposeless stance, with the effect that legislation was soon enacted. This led to the handing over to the Aboriginal community all of the remains of their ancestors held by Tasmanian institutions.

It was then thatTasmanian Aborigines turned their eyes towards museums outside of Tasmania. The Victorian Museum was visited and representation made to the Victorian Govemment for return to Tasmania of Tasmanian Aboriginal remains. Currently, the Victorian Government are denying Tasmanian Aborigines their remains by relying upon technicalities of law, all of which can so easily be overcome with simple legislation.

Taking on the World

Having obtained a list of institutions overseas which had Aboriginal remains, the Aboriginal community went aboutsending Michael Mansell overseas to begin the process of getting remains back. The Tasmanian Government refused to assist. The Commonwealth Government gave a few meagre dollars, a letter of introduction and then turned its back. So with a few resources but a strong and determined approach, Tasmanian Aborigines were prepared to take on the world. And in respect to institutions covering Austria, England, Scotland and Belgium, that is what it seemed.

The Belgium Government wrote back to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre suggesting that they not be visited because 'we do not have any Tasmanian Aboriginal remains'. Ignoring this, Mansell visited the museum anyway and confronted the Director with the news that if this charade continued, he would guarantee 100 Tasmanian Aborigines sitting on the Director’s doorstep. Instantaneously the Director acknowledged that Tasmanian Aboriginal remains were indeed at the museum but that he agreed with his Government that Tasmanian Aborigines would not get the remains.

At the University in Vienna, the authorities were conveniently absent during Mansell's visit, and the attitude of the authorities at the Museum within the same city were particularly negative. In fact skulls of many Aborigines, including Tasmanian, were on open display in that museum for public viewing and photographing. Mansell insisted that the Tasmanian skull be removed forthwith, and this request was agreed to. Later on, when he leamtfrom German interpreters that the text accompanying the Tasmanian display categorically denied the existence of Tasmanian Aborigines, Mansell demanded that the text be altered to accurately record that 4,000 Aborigines were alive but unwell in Tasmania, the poorest in the state and the most discriminated against. When the Museum refused he sprayed, appropriately, black paint, over the window case. The text was soon changed!

Then on to Britain to deal with the descendants of the original perpetrators of crimes against his ancestors, and Mansell found that the British were the British, who refused to acknowledge that Tasmanian Aborigines had any rights over the remains held in the British Museum. Answering a query from Mansell about what the authorities at the British Museum would do if Aborigines grave robbed cemeteries in Britain, Dr Ball, the chief administrator, was aghast; yet in the next breath smugly said that he would not recommend that the Tasmanian remains be returned to their people. Likewise the Royal Scottish Museum took the same view. One thing was apparent - after having received letters from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre demanding the return of all remains and announcing the coming visit of one of their workers, a phone around by institutions across Europe evidently took place, and the conservative forces agreed to reject the call from Tasmania's original people!

In contrast were the responses from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, the Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm, the Museum of Man in Paris, the University of Edinburgh and the Field Museum in Chicago. Whilst it would not be accurateto say that all of these institutions looked very favourably at the Aboriginal request for retum of remains, it is safe to say that they were not antagonistic towards the request; that genuine regret at the brutal manner in which Tasmanian Aboriginal people's remains came into the hands of whites was expressed; and that, in respect to the Stockholm institution, a genuine willingness a Tasmanian Aboriginal, the Aboriginal cause was property given serious consideration.

No remains were returned to Mansell, nor did Tasmanian Aborigines really expect that. Those within the museums concerned do not have the power to hand over the remains, but what they can do is recommend to their respective boards of trustees and governments that the Tasmanian Aborigines request be agreed to. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre expects another delegation of Tasmanians to go overseas to the same institutions in 1987, funds permitting. Meantime the support groups contacted by Mansell are being fed information in order to maintain the pressure on the relevant institutions and governments.

The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre anticipates the return of remains in about 1987.

Curiously, in the institutions visited by Mansell, the remains of other indigenous people and their cultural artefacts was abundant, yet the institutions indicated that no requests had been put to them for their return. This surely is a reflection on the lack of action by the Australian Government, which boasts of enacting Aboriginal Heritage Legislation (which it never once used), and of its intention to persuade overseas bodies to return to Australia the remains of Aboriginal people. The Australian Government is conspicuous by its lack of serious activity in this area and rhetoric in the Australian press about supporting Aborigines will not enable the return of human remains so grotesquely taken from their homelands and so unnecessarily kept there. Aboriginal people certainly must be the ones to directly deal with the institutions overseas, but that does not preclude the Australian Government from using its diplomatic and international influence against governments who are not responsive to the Aboriginal call. The availability to Aboriginal groups of approximately $50,000 to enable various representatives to undertake the necessary tasks would be both warranted and easily managed by the government. So far the Australian Government has baulked at acting out its responsibilities in this area.