Ministers mark Germany’s return of Indigenous artefacts

Four significant cultural heritage items sent to Germany in 1840 by two Lutheran missionaries have been handed back to the Kaurna people in South Australia by a German museum.

The 180-year-old-plus items, a kathawirri (sword), tantanaku (club or bark peeler), wirnta (spear) and wikatyi (net) were officially returned during a ceremony at Adelaide’s Pirltawardli (Possum Park) – the location of the original exchange between Kaurna people and German missionaries.

The Kaurna people and representatives from the Grassi Museum in Leipzig have been discussing the return since 2019, after an application by senior Kaurna man Michael Kumatpi O’Brien, on behalf of the Kaurna community.

In August 2023, the four artefacts were welcomed back to Australia by Mitzi Nam, chairperson of Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC and were cared for by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies before they were returned to the Kaurna people on Friday.

Ms Nam thanked the German government and the Grassi Museum.

“These items may no longer be used in the day to day lives of the living Kaurna people, but they are part of our story, our culture and we share a deep and significant connection with them,” she said.

“This achievement, this homecoming, is hopefully only the beginning of those pieces of our culture and heritage coming back to Kaurna land. Coming home.”

The missionaries wrote a dictionary that later became the basis for a revival of the Kaurna language.

German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock said she felt honored to witness the return of artifacts that were highly significant to the Kaurna nation.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said the return of the sacred items “honors the voices and heritage of the Kaurna people, bringing dignity and respect to the traditional custodians of this land and their ancestors.”

“(It) is a crucial part of our country’s ongoing journey of reconciliation, it promotes healing and justice,” she said.

The items will be temporarily stored and cared for at the Art Gallery of South Australia.