Etched in Bone – chronicling Australia's shameful trade in Indigenous remains | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on Wed, 03/10/2018 - 4:00am

A sensitive documentary shows the theft and eventual return of human bones to Arnhem Land

Early next month when the documentary film, Etched in Bone, is screened for the small west Arnhem Land Aboriginal settlement of Gunbalanya it will be almost seven decades to the day since an expedition of American and Australian scientists stole the remains of community elders and dispatched them to Washington.

The film, produced by historian/writers Martin Thomas and Béatrice Bijon, chronicles one of the most recent and deplorable episodes in cultural theft from – and scientific deception of – Indigenous Australians.