Course participants learn from Traditional Owners at the site of the old Fitzroy Crossing cemetery. Source: Cressida Fforde

Professional Development Short Course

• Online Only
• 5-day intensive
• 1 - 5 September 2025

The repatriation of Ancestral Remains is a highly significant Indigenous achievement and inter-cultural development of the past 40 years. Participants will explore the practice, history, meaning and significance of repatriation for Indigenous peoples, museums, and broader society.

This course is co-developed and delivered by repatriation researchers and practitioners involved in the Return Reconcile Renew research group, which includes: the Australian National University, University of Technology Sydney, University of Melbourne, University of Tasmania, Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre, Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority, Gur a Baradharaw Kod Torres Strait Sea and Land Council, the National Museum of Australia, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

This year, the Professional Development (PD) course will be delivered online only. 

The course is designed for those interested and engaged in repatriation practice, research and policy making, for example in community, museum, university, and government sectors. It focuses on the skills for successful repatriation practice-how to locate and return Ancestral Remains; the history of how, when, why Ancestral Remains were taken and the Indigenous response; the connection of repatriation to Indigenous law, culture, ethics, Country, and community development; institutional, agency and government policy regimes; repatriation and its international context.

Presenters
National and international repatriation experts from community organisations, museums, and research institutions, many of whom are part of the Return Reconcile Renew research network (see www.returnreconcilerenew.info)

Course Fees
Professional development fees: $3,000 (Without Assessment)

Grants are available to assist with fees for Indigenous participants without organisational support. Discounts are available for organisations funding more than two participants.

Course Delivery
This course will be delivered via Zoom.

Course Convener
Professor Cressida Fforde

Contact
For further information please contact: Shane Bawden shane.bawden@anu.edu.au