The Fowler Museum at UCLA has voluntarily returned 11 culturally significant objects to the Larrakia Community of Australia’s Northern Territory. The items, including a kangaroo tooth headband and 10 glass spearheads dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were handed over in a ceremony on May 20. Half of the objects arrived at the museum in 1965 via a large donation from the Wellcome Trust, while the rest were gifts from private collectors. Since 2021, Larrakia elders have worked with AIATSIS and the Fowler Museum to identify and facilitate the return. The Larrakia community plans to open a cultural center next year to house the repatriated items.
This repatriation matters because it reflects a growing global movement among museums to address historical injustices by returning ancestral belongings to Indigenous communities. The Fowler Museum has now returned objects to three different communities—Warumungu last July, the Asante Kingdom in Ghana last February, and now the Larrakia—demonstrating an institutional commitment to restitution despite high costs. The return also highlights the role of AIATSIS, an Indigenous-led cultural institution, which has facilitated the return of over 2,300 items to Australia. For the Larrakia, these objects are not just artifacts but spiritual and cultural treasures that connect past and future generations.