THE few spots of rain that fell on the dry bed of Lake Mungo on Wednesday didn’t even wet the ground, but they were enough to help “wash away the tears”.
Such spiritual symbolism was mentioned more than once by Aboriginal people as federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley announced that Mungo Man and Mungo Lady, as well as the remains of 106 other ancient Aboriginal people, would be respectfully returned to the sands of the Willandra Lakes and left in peace forever, no longer to be the subjects of scientific study and to never again be kept in boxes on shelves in the closets of museums and laboratories.
Discovered in 1968 and 1974 respectively, the 40,000-year-old bones of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man had unquestionably been of great scientific value and had provided groundbreaking insights into the lives of prehistoric peoples in a landscape that would change vastly beyond their time, but the time had now come for them to go home.
Openly conscious of being a white woman whose job it was to make a decision so important to indigenous Australians, Ms Ley, whose electorate of Farrer includes Mungo, said she felt that taking the advice of Aboriginal community representatives was simply the right thing to do.
“I have determined that the remains can be reburied in the Willandra Lakes Region in accordance with the wishes, rights and interests of the local Aboriginal community, represented by the Willandra Lakes Region Aboriginal Advisory Group,” Ms Ley said in a statement released as the decision was announced.
“Mungo Man and Mungo Lady will soon be home at the end of this long, long road. And their spirits can rest.”
In person, and addressing a small but emotional audience on a cool, grey morning at the Mungo Information Centre, the minister was clearly moved by the moment.
“I feel quite overwhelmed by the occasion and I know that I stand at the end of a long line of decision makers and discussion and argument and disagreement, so I feel that ... it’s not my announcement, it’s effectively your announcement,” she told the Indigenous leaders and community members gathered for the event.
“The main acknowledgement today is to all of you over what has been a very, very difficult time.”
The remains of Mungo Man have been in storage at Willandra Lakes, 110km north east of Mildura, since 2017, after spending 43 years in Canberra, while Mungo Woman was returned to Lake Mungo in 1992. Neither have been reburied and they have remained in storage.
The vast majority of First Nations Peoples and traditional owners support reburial as close as possible to where the remains were discovered, but there have also been calls for the remains to be held in a “keeping place” for future scientific access. Ms Ley decided on the first option, but imposed specific conditions to make that decision permanent.
“These are that they are safe, that they are secure, that they are monitored, that they are respected, and all of this will be done through the AAG, which remains central to the process,” she said.
The dates and places for the reburials are yet to be decided, but it is understood that cultural ceremonies will accompany each one.
Ms Ley said the locations would be not be kept completely secret, but would be known only to few people and the graves would not have markers or monuments. There were no plans to allow the public to visit them.
Willandra Lakes AAG chair Patsy Winch said the occasion was “still very hard to take in at the moment”.
“I’m feeling very emotional and very happy,” she said. “And the rain’s good. It’s a cleansing.”