King Charles urged to press for return of Aboriginal treasures from British museums

The King has been urged to back the return of stolen Aboriginal artefacts from British museums. Charles will meet the leaders of indigenous groups during his historic trip to .

And they want him to use his influence to speed up the repatriation of cultural artefacts. The British Museum and the Australian Research Council has identified 39,000 items being held in 70 UK institutions.

As the monarch prepares to land in Sydney on Friday for the start of his historic tour alongside the Queen, local Aboriginal communities have pleaded with Charles to use his influence to further their cause.

Campaigners have called on Charles to “become an advocate and an ally” during his trip Down Under, where he will meet local indigenous groups next week.

Research by the British Museum and the Australian Research Council has identified 39,000 indigenous artefacts held across 70 museums in the and Ireland.

But experts have said any returns are moving at a “glacial” pace, despite promises on both sides for more collaboration.

As part of the royals’ six day visit to Australia, the King will on Tuesday meet the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and take part in a smoking ceremony at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Sydney.

Noeleen Timberry, a local indigenous leader from New South Wales, said: “Now is the time for Charles to be an advocate and an ally for Australia’s indigenous people.

“We welcome his visit and hope his platform can help our campaign and our community have a voice.”

In her role as chair of the La Perouse local Aboriginal land council, Noeleen worked with a delegation which brokered the repatriation of four spears taken by British explorer Captain James Cook and botanist Joseph Banks more than 250 years ago.

When Cook and his crew on board HMB Endeavour first made contact with Aboriginal people in 1770, the British soldiers took around 40 Gweagal spears from their camps at Botany Bay on the east coast of Australia.

Speaking to The , Noeleen said: “The spears are an important connection to our past, our traditions, and cultural practices, and to our ancestors.

“Our Elders have worked for many years to see their ownership transferred to the traditional owners of Botany Bay.

“To have the King’s backing in our larger campaign would be right and proper for the prosperity of future relationships and can be a blueprint for the future.”

While Australia and the UK have in recent years begun negotiating the return of culturally sensitive indigenous items, the pace has been described as “glacial”.

Indigenous groups say for more than 300 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage has been removed overseas and placed in museums, universities, and private collections.

Some museums, including the Natural History Museum in London, have also historically held skulls and other human remains collected during the colonial settlement of Australia.

Ray Ingrey, Gujaga Foundation Director, said Indigenous elders had been fighting for the return of the spears for more than 20 years.

At the time of their return he said: “The spears were pretty much the first point of European contact, particularly British contact with Aboriginal Australia.

“I think for us it’s a momentous occasion that where Australia’s history began, in 1770 on the shores of Botany Bay at Kurnell, the spears that were undoubtedly taken without permission are returned to the rightful people.”

"It's important for all Australians to have a look at these objects, our old people's tools, to show our young Dharawal kids and other Aboriginal kids in the area that it is something we continue to do.”

The Australian Research Council has continued to fund projects such as The Mobilising Aboriginal Objects campaign which identified numerous articles held by the British Museum, including a notorious shield thought to have been taken by Cook.

Noeleen added: “Questions need to be asked as to what else is out there because it appears that in the back of museums, not even on display, there is so much that is lost until somebody goes looking for it.

“The British Museum has undertaken some wonderful research which included visiting other museums and asking them what they have, so it is very much about collaboration.”

Any return of artefacts from British collections, such as the British Museum and National History Museum, must however be approved by both the museum and the British government.

In 2019, the Natural History Museum returned the remains of 37 indigenous Australians kept in the museum’s archives. The Museum also became the first British museum to return stolen artefacts to Australia in 2019.

Expert Dan Hicks, professor of contemporary archaeology at the University of Oxford, has previously said there was increased willingness for museums and the British government to consider returning artefacts to Australia, but that the pace was “glacial.”

He added: “For many Australian indigenous communities, the distinction between ancestral human remains and cultural objects of a spiritual nature is not as clear as European or American curators might imagine it is.”

But Noeleen said the King’s visit could herald a turning point in their quest to return their heritage to its rightful place.

She said: “I am sure if the King vocalised that he thought it was the right thing to do that things would start moving a bit quicker.

“A lot of things get bogged down in legislation and the ability for museums to enact returns, which slows down the process.

“The end goal is not necessarily to achieve the return of everything, for us the primary focus is to be able to achieve access to the objects.

“But we also need to be mindful that we need to identify where certain objects came from and how they came to be where they are.”

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The King and Queen will travel to the Australian capital Canberra on Monday, while also visiting Samoa next week for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Charles and Camilla will meet the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community on Tuesday on their six-day Australia visit.

did not comment.