Today, the Warumungu community of Tennant Creek gathered at the Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre to celebrate the return of 40 culturally significant items from four international museums – a momentous occasion marking the culmination of years of collaboration between the Warumungu community, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and collecting institutions internationally.
The collections – returned from Tamaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum (NZ), Tūhura Otago Museum (NZ), Fowler Museum at UCLA (USA) and Horniman Museum and Gardens (UK) – include ceremonial and everyday items such as Wirli or Ngurrulumuru (fighting pick), Marttan (stone knife), Kupija (adze), Wartilykirri (hooked boomerang) and restricted men’s sacred items.
These items were originally acquired in the early 1900s through collectors including Walter Baldwin Spencer, Francis Gillen and James Field. The Fowler Museum’s collection also includes items acquired via the Wellcome Trust in 1965.
Senior Warumungu Elder Michael Jones Jampin, who was instrumental to all four returns said:
“This is where they’re gone from, and we wanted to bring it back [onto Country] so we can pass it on and teach our young ones about traditional things, like hunting and other sacred things. We’ve still got songs and all that, that is important as back-up, but we are happy to see the objects returned and we’re glad the museums wanted to give them back.”
AIATSIS accompanied Warumungu representatives on international delegations to New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom between 2022 to 2024, where formal handover ceremonies were held with museum staff and local custodians.
The collections have been temporarily stored at AIATSIS in Canberra, as directed by Senior Warumungu men, until renovations at the Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre were complete. With the centre now ready to care for and display the items, they have been returned to Country, where they will be preserved and shared with future generations.
“At AIATSIS, we tell the story of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia and to support cultural resurgence,” said AIATSIS CEO Leonard Hill.
“The return of these Warumungu items is a powerful example of our purpose in action – restoring cultural heritage to its rightful custodians and strengthening the connection between people, place and history. We are proud to have worked alongside the Warumungu community and our international partners across several years to make this On-Country Return Event possible.”
AIATSIS’s Return of Cultural Heritage program supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in locating, reclaiming and caring for cultural heritage held overseas. AIATSIS is not only committed to supporting the growing global movement to restore cultural heritage to Indigenous communities but is at the forefront of international repatriation efforts.
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Attributable quotes
Michael Jones Jampin, Senior Warumungu Elder:
“This is where they’re gone from, and we wanted to bring it back [onto Country] so we can pass it on and teach our young ones about traditional things, like hunting and other sacred things. We’ve still got songs and all that, that is important as back-up, but we are happy to see the objects returned and we’re glad the museums wanted to give them back.”
The Hon Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Minister for Indigenous Australians:
“I congratulate Warumungu Elders and AIATSIS for their hard work over many years to bring these culturally significant items home to Warumungu Country. After being temporarily cared for at AIATSIS in Canberra, I’m pleased these important items will now be on display and looked after at the Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre in Tennant Creek.
“The Albanese Government is proud to invest in the AIATSIS-led Return of Cultural Heritage program, which facilitates the safe return of cultural heritage material held in overseas collections.”
Leonard Hill, CEO, AIATSIS:
“AIATSIS is proud to have worked alongside the Warumungu community and our international partners across several years to make this On-Country Return Event possible. Repatriation is about restoring relationships, honouring cultural authority and supporting communities to care for their heritage on their own terms.”
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About AIATSIS
AIATSIS is Australia’s only national institution focused exclusively on the diverse history, cultures and heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia. Our vision is a world in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ knowledge and cultures are recognised, respected, celebrated and valued.
AIATSIS leads the Return of Cultural Heritage program, which facilitates the return of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage material from overseas governments, collecting institutions and private collectors. The program:
- enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to understand where their cultural heritage material is held overseas
- influences the development of changes to institutional repatriation practices, policy and guidelines
- fosters relationships between overseas collecting institutions and Indigenous communities.
About Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre
In 1995, the Warumungu community of Tennant Creek initiated the development of an art and culture centre, Nyiunkka Nyunyu, which opened in 2003.
After several years of consultation with Elders, research and discussion, 5 key themes were agreed, which make up the backbone of the interpretive display for the Centre. They include bush tucker and resources, land, language, history and punttu (family and skin relations).
The centre also has the unique feature of having a sacred site of the Ancestral Nyinkka (spiny-tailed goanna) within the precinct. Along with the interpretive displays and the sacred site, there are many other activities, including a retail gallery and exhibition space; performance grounds; a cafe and bushtucker project; precinct tours; art production areas for carving, painting and making; a museum space; and the Mirrrinjtinjiki Resouce Centre for archives and Mukurtu database.
Further information
- The four collections were returned from:
- Tamaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum (NZ) – 4 items
- Tūhura Otago Museum (NZ) – 6 items
- Fowler Museum, UCLA (US) – 20 items
- Horniman Museum and Gardens (UK) – 10 items - Items include: Wirli or Ngurrulumuru (fighting pick), Marttan (stone knife), Murkutu (sheath), Kupija (adze), Wartilykirri (hooked boomerang), Wurtil (water carrier), Warnanja (axe), Jalkkaji (spear thrower), Kalpunta (boomerang) and restricted men’s ceremonial items.
- The collections were originally acquired through anthropologists and collectors including Walter Baldwin Spencer, Francis Gillen and James Field in the early 1900s.
- The Fowler Museum’s items were part of a donation of 30,000 objects from the Wellcome Trust in 1965, following the death of Sir Henry Wellcome.
- AIATSIS accompanied Warumungu representatives on international delegations in 2022 and 2024 to facilitate formal handovers with museum staff and local custodians.
- The Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre has recently undergone renovations and is now equipped to care for and display the returned items.