The Australian Museum returns remains of Rapa Nui ancestors to Easter Island

The Australian Museum in Sydney has repatriated human remains of Rapa Nui ancestors (Ivi Tupuna) to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), after they were removed in 1882 by a German naval expedition led by Captain Wilhelm Geiseler of the SMS Hyäne. The museum bought 17 skulls and one sample of human hair in 1883, and worked with the Rapa Nui community on the restitution; museum CEO Kim McKay and First Nations director Laura McBride issued apologies and statements acknowledging colonial harm. Carlos Edmunds Paoa, president of the Council of the Elders of Rapa Nui, said the ancestors will be returned to ceremonial platforms known as ahu. The remains arrived in Santiago on 17 July, where Chilean undersecretary of cultural heritage Emilio De la Cerda led an airport ceremony before they were flown onward to Rapa Nui.

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