00:00A long way from home, the remains of two Māori ancestors have begun their journey back to
00:13where they belong.
00:14A sense of healing, reconnection and joy actually, joy that we're at this point where we're
00:22going home, they're coming home with us.
00:24The skeletal remains were likely stolen from their home on Rēkahu or Chatham Islands to
00:29the southeast of New Zealand between the late 1800s and the 1930s.
00:34They've been held in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra since 2022, but were
00:39originally part of the former Australian Institute of Anatomy's collection.
00:44After years of talks, custodianship and care of the ancestors has been officially transferred.
00:50It's probably one of our most significant things that we can do to represent our people
00:55is to bring our karapuna home, our ancestors home, it is an absolute honour and privilege.
01:05Research will be undertaken to determine how they ended up in Australia and who may have
01:10taken them.
01:11It's really my job to give the bones back their stories and humanise that process before
01:16they go home.
01:17They'll now be brought to the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papua, where they'll be held alongside
01:22hundreds of other Māori ori.
01:24They'll stay there until it's determined the time is right for the ancestors to return
01:28to their home.
01:30It's refreshing to know that there's institutions around the world that actively inform about
01:35the repatriation process.
01:38Work is still ongoing to return dozens of remains from other institutions.
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