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‘Inhuman and very mischievous traffic’: early measures to cease the export of ancestral remains from Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia

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posted on 2023-05-24, 07:04 authored by Fforde, C, Aranui, A, Knapman, G, Paul TurnbullPaul Turnbull
This chapter considers 19th- and early 20th-century official measures, including legislation, to prevent the trade in, and regulate the export of, Indigenous human remains from New Zealand and Australia. It details the immediate historical context of the development of this legislation and its past and current implications for the supply and repatriation of Indigenous human remains. Museum archives reveal successful (and unsuccessful) attempts by collectors to break the law, suggesting there may be many Indigenous human remains in overseas institutions that were illegally exported from their country of origin. If so, such illegality provides holding institutions with few options than to repatriate. It is important to note that this chapter considers the ‘rule of law’ from the perspective of the settler state. Indigenous peoples have their own laws governing appropriate treatment of the deceased.

Funding

Australian Research Council

History

Publication title

The Routledge Companion to Indigenous Repatriation: return, reconcile, renew

Edition

1st

Editors

C Fforde, CT McKeown and H Keeler

Pagination

318-399

ISBN

9780203730966

Department/School

School of Humanities

Publisher

Routledge

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Extent

56

Rights statement

Copyright 2020 The Authors

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Conserving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture; Expanding knowledge in history, heritage and archaeology

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