By the time Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, theories abounded about where Aborigines 'sat' on the scale of evolution. Science believed the study of Aboriginal bones to be essential and so began collecting and trading in human remains. Bodies of the recently dead were whisked away from morgues, or raided from massacre and grave sites. Thousands of items are now held by museums and private collectors here and overseas.
Over the past 25 years, the repatriation campaign has been doggedly fighting for the return of these ancestral remains.
Travelling Bones charts the macabre and messy history of the collection of Aboriginal bones during the 19th century -- and the long struggle to put this history right. It's about the clash of science and the quest for knowledge at any price, against deeply held views about death and the spirit.
This program was first broadcast on Hindsight on 25 May 2008.
- Daniel Browning
- Lorena Allam