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Warumungu reps arrive in NZ for return of cultural heritage material

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Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation, Tennant & District Times

Warumungu representatives Jimmy Frank Jnr and Laurence Williams met with Māori delegates in Aotearoa on Tuesday for the repatriation of priceless Warumungu cultural materials.

The important objects, which had long ago been sent to New Zealand, were from the collection of obtained by anthropologists Spencer and Gillen during the time they spent with the Warumungu people in early 1900s.

Jimmy Frank Jupurrula signs the handover certificates for the four Warumungu items. Matua Bobby Newson of the Tāmaki Makaurau iwi (local people of Auckland) and Jimmy Frank Jupurrula during Karakia and farewell blessing of the four Warumungu items leaving the whare.
Photos: Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation

“It’s really special…being nominated from our elders to come and collect our sacred objects and take them back home,” said Frank Jnr.

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies has been working with Nyinkka Nyunyu and the Warumungu community since 2019 to return these items as part of the Return of Cultural Heritage program.

Tennant & District Times 18 November 2022

This article appeared in Tennant & District Times, 18 November 2022.

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