Quoting from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-24/sacred-aboriginal-objects-returned-to-central-australia/8736876
Sacred Aboriginal objects returned to Central Australia, century after collected by museums
ABC News - AM, by Steven Schubert, 24 July 2017
More than two dozen sacred objects have been returned to Indigenous people in Alice Springs, a century after they were removed.
The 26 items ended up in museums in Victoria where many of them were on public display, contrary to Arrernte law, until the 1960s.
Sacred objects returned to Indigenous owners. The sacred objects cannot be shown to anyone but Arrernte men. Supplied: Adam MacFie from the Museum of Central Australia
Arrernte leader Braydon Kantjira said he had mixed emotions as the items were being returned.
"It's very, very important," he said.
"Important for our land, important to our people that they have come back.
"Everything that's been taken away, it gets welcomed back home to where they belong."
The items will be stored at the Strehlow Research Centre at the Museum of Central Australia until the people with cultural responsibility for them can be tracked down.
AUDIO: Listen to Steven Schubert's report on the sacred items' return. (AM)
Mr Kantjira said he was not allowed to show the objects to anyone but Arrernte men, or even describe what they were.
The museum's research officer Shaun Angeles said he hoped the return of the items would help Arrernte men reconnect with their culture.
"We want to work with all these men and other senior men around the community to strengthen Arrernte men, to give us our responsibility and traditional roles back again," he said.
Mr Angeles has been involved in the five-year process of getting the objects back from Museums Victoria.
"We took five or six old men down there, senior leaders from the Arrernte people," he said.
"They sighted these objects, and gave Museums Victoria instructions to send these ones back home so we can start consulting all the older people around here about these objects."
PHOTO: A small number of the sacred objects are known to have been stolen, with others traded. (Supplied: Adam MacFie from the Museum of Central Australia)
'Items traded, stolen'
Museums Victoria senior curator Philip Batty said the objects were collected through a variety of methods.
"In most cases these objects were either traded or exchanged for European goods a hundred years ago for metal axes, knives etcetera," Dr Batty said.
"Only a very small number in my understanding and research were stolen."
Dr Batty said he felt privileged to witness the objects being handed back to Arrernte men.
"For me personally it's quite moving.
"We're very happy to comply with Aboriginal protocols and traditions and return these objects, because they are very important to Aboriginal people."
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