The skull of an Aboriginal man is set to be repatriated to Tasmania from a Scottish university.
Removed from the man "in order to service (the) trade in Aboriginal body parts" after he was shot dead on Tasmania's Shannon River in the 1820s or 1830s, the remains were officially used for medical education in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The remains were acquired by Marischal College's regis professor of natural history, William MacGillivray, and purchased by the University of Aberdeen after Mr MacGillivray's death in 1852.
All that is known about the man is that he was a member of the Big River nation, a group of five clans from southern Tasmania.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) - the government approved organisation to which repatriated Tasmanian skeletal remains and cultural property are returned - began planning the skull's repatriation from the University of Aberdeen in 2019, with the return approved unconditionally by the university's governing body the following year.
In its request for the return of the remains, the TAC said there was "no doubt" about the skull's origin.
"There can be no doubt that this skull was removed from the man shot at the Shannon River in order to service (the) trade in Aboriginal body parts," the TAC said, The National reports.
"The decapitation was most likely performed by one of the killers, stock-keepers, property owners or lessees involved in or associated with the man's murder."
National Indigenous Times understands a ceremony to repatriate the skull will be held in Scotland on Friday.
Andry Sculthorpe from the TAC highlighted the importance of repatriating the remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
"Aboriginal people feel the enormous responsibility of restoring to our own country both the physical remains, and through them, the spirits of our ancestral dead," Mr Sculthorpe said, The National reports.
"This is a record of racist attitudes to the study of humanity, including human remains acquired by grave robbing and other immoral activity; in this case, murder.
"We applaud the institutions that have the courage to let go of their perceptions of intellectual supremacy, embrace their own humanity and do what is right by the people who are most impacted by the atrocities they have inflicted in the past.
"This young man's murder will not be forgotten and we will bring him home to rest at last."
University of Aberdeen head of university collections, Neil Curtis, also commented on the skull's repatriation.
"Given the violence and racism that led to their acquisition, it would be unacceptable for these ancestral remains to be used for research, teaching or exhibitions purposes," Mr Curtis said.
"We are pleased that the remains of this young man can now be handed over to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for appropriate burial in his homeland."
A 2023 investigation found hundreds of human skulls belonging to Indigenous peoples were stored by the university from across the world, including Aboriginal people, Pacific Islanders and Native American people.
The University said it has an established procedure for considering repatriation from its collections, particularly when remains can be returned to their original communities.
