Colourful ceremonies featuring song and dance, petal-strewn pathways and the roasting of specially-selected pigs accompanied the emotional repatriation of 16 human skulls to Papua New Guinea last week.
The 16 skulls were taken from Papua New Guinea’s Rai Coast in 1876-77, having been collected by Russian scientist Nickolai N. Miklouho-Maclay during an expedition. In his journal, Miklouho-Maclay wrote that the skulls were freely given and were not exhumed remains.
Miklouho-Maclay arrived in Sydney in 1878 and began working with William John Macleay, a fellow natural history enthusiast whose philanthropy enabled the creation of Sydney University’s Macleay Museum in 1887. In 1888 the crania were donated to the Macleay Museum by Miklouho-Maclay’s widow. That museum became part of the Chau Chak Wing Museum in 2020.
