Central Land Council

STREHLOW OBJECTS WITH CUSTODIANS

The return of more than 150 sacred ceremonial objects from the famous Strehlow collection to their traditional custodians has commenced. The objects, which have been protected under state and Commonwealth protection legislation for more that three years, are being returned as a result of a negotiated settlement between the Central Land Council, the Strehlow family and the Northern Territory Government.

The settlement could pave the way for the return of hundreds of sacred objects still held in a larger collection at the Strehlow Research Centre in Alice Springs. "The return of these sacred objects is extremely important to our people. They are part of our living culture and the people have been trying to get them back for many years,"

Central Land Council Chairman, Mr Rex Japanangka Granites, said. Mr Granites said the efforts of the custodians to get their sacred objects back goes back at least 20 years. In particular Mr Granites paid tribute to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Robert Tickner, for his effective use of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. "We are grateful that Mr Tickner used the powers he has under this legislation because it has given us the time needed to negotiate a settlement to bring the tjuringas (sacred objects) back to the custodians." "Twenty years ago there was no law which recognised the rights of Aboriginal people to their cultural heritage. The Federal legislation has been used wisely and it has worked well," Mr Granites said. The settlement was mediated by Elliott Johnston QC, a former Commissioner on the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, who was appointed by Mr Tickner to assist in the negotiations.

The sacred objects were originally part of the much larger Strehlow collection, including diaries, ceremonial regalia, films and photographs and research records, as well as sacred ceremonial objects, collected by Professor T.G.H. Strehlow during forty years of research in central Australia. The collection, considered to be one of the most important ethnological collections in the world, has been surrounded by controversy.

Both Professor Strehlow and his widow, Kathy, refused representations from traditional custodians to return any of the objects, and attempts in the late 1970s by custodians to use non-Aboriginal law to regain possession of their cultural property also failed. The traditional custodians had strong objections to the sacred objects remaining in the hands of Mrs Strehlow, in part because, under Aboriginal law, neither women nor uninitiated boys may see the sacred Men's objects. Mrs Strehlow also sold photographs of a secret men's ceremony to a German magazine and withheld information which could have assisted traditional landowners in claiming back their traditional land.

Mrs Strehlow is also reported to have exported the entire collection during the 1980s to avoid compulsory acquisition. In the late 1980s, despite opposition from Aboriginal people, the Northern Territory Government acquired what it believed was the entire collection for the Strehlow Research Centre in Alice Springs. The Centre, built especially to house the collection, opened amidst strong protests from Aboriginal groups in 1991.

The legislation which established the Centre prevents the return of any of the sacred objects to traditional custodians. The administrative procedures of the Centre have also effectively prevented access by the custodians to their objects. Aboriginal interests in the collection are even represented on the Strehlow Research Centre Board by a non-Aboriginal person.

Shortly after the opening of the Strehlow Centre in Alice Springs in 1991, Professor Strehlow's son, Carl, sought Government permission to sell some 265 items which he claimed had been given to him by his father, including the sacred objects which are now being returned. The Strehlow's private collection was impounded under South Australian heritage laws to protect it from damage or removal in 1992. Legal proceedings by the Northern Territory Government, which claimed ownership as part of the collection it had acquired for the Strehlow Centre, prevented the return of the private collection to the Strehlows for a further year, but when the Northern Territory decided not to proceed, the Commonwealth Government stepped in to use Federal heritage protection laws in September 1993.

Successive heritage protection declarations have been issued by Minister Robert Tickner in the intervening two years and it was during this period that successful negotiations, under mediator Elliott Johnston, were conducted. CLC Chairman, Mr Rex Granites, said the return of sacred objects remains an international priority, with many museums and international auction houses around the world continuing a distressing trade in the sacred artefacts. Mr Granites said the Central Land Council is also hopeful that, now some of the Strehlow objects have been returned, others still held in the Strehlow Centre in Alice Springs will also be returned.

"For a long time they've been saying we're all dead, or that we don't want our objects back, or the return of the objects will cause arguments - so they won't have to return the objects to Aboriginal people. "Now we can prove that isn't true and can show them the objects should be returned to real, living people to be part of our ceremonies again."