Dja Dja Wurrung blast decision to deny funding for returning ancestors to country

The Australian Research Council has responded to criticisms about its decision not to award funding.

An Australian Research Council spokesperson grants were awarded on the basis of competitive and rigorous peer review process.

They said the same group could apply for new applications for new or similar research in the future.

"We urge all collaborators and partners on ARC applications to work with their lead university (as the applicant) to understand the nature of the assessor feedback and how they might re-cast the project," the spokesperson said.

Education and youth minister Alan Tudge, who would have final say on any submissions that needed funding, forwarded enquiries to the Australian Research Council.

4pm

MEMBER for Bendigo Lisa Chesters has thrown her support behind the push to rethink a decision that has left at least 700 human remains in limbo.

The Australian Research Council deemed the project unsuitable for consideration by minister for education and youth Alan Tudge.

Cutting edge technology would have been used to test at least 700 human remains for clues that would help repatriate Indigenous ancestors on Country.

A "shocked" Ms Chesters will write to Mr Tudge and prime minister Scott Morrison to ask why the bid was rejected.

"For hundreds of years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestral remains and secret sacred objects were removed from their communities," she said.

"This often occurred without consent or care for culture. They were then placed in museums, universities and private collections in Australia and overseas.

"It should not have happened, but it did. It is part of our nation's past and we must right this wrong."

Ms Chesters said returning ancestral remains to descendants and Country is both the right thing to do and vital for reconciliation and healing.

"If we as a nation are committed to reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people, then surely this project is a vital step on this journey," she said.

Earlier

INDIGENOUS leaders have blasted a decision not to fund works that could repatriate hundreds Indigenous people's remains on Country.

The remains include 700 collected by Museums Victoria over the years.

The Australian Research Council has knocked back the application that would have seen scientists use isotopic research to find out where remains in museums across Australia and the world hailed from.

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The remains would have then been properly returned to descendants and to Country.

The decision has prompted Bendigo Indigenous leaders to ask people to get behind its push to get government funding.

"We implore all Australians to support us to Bring our Ancestors Home," the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Rodney Carter said.

"This project aims to develop a multidisciplinary methodology for repatriation of unprovenanced ancestral remains.

"This pilot study expects to develop an integrated genomic and isotopic map, in collaboration with eight Victorian Registered Aboriginal Parties, to facilitate the assignment of provenance to ancestral remains."

Eleven Indigenous groups hoped for Australian Research Council funding.

Mr Carter hopes the government will reverse that decision.

The ARC and education minister Alan Tudge have been contacted for comment.

More to come

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