Unmarked grave for Mungo Man ‘shameful’

Mungo Man – Australia’s oldest human whose remains rewrote prehistory – will be reburied secretly amid mounting anger.

The casket containing the remains of Mungo man in Mungo National park in 2017. Picture: Aaron Francis

Mungo Man – Australia’s oldest human whose remains rewrote Australian prehistory when they were found in 1974 – will be reburied secretly in an unmarked grave at Lake Mungo in a plan described as “a legacy of shame” by Mungo Man’s finder Jim Bowler.

The remains will be laid to rest in the dry lake country where Mungo Man died more than 40,000 years ago, amid mounting anger over how and where his burial – and those of more than 100 other excavated remains – should take place.

A call for public comment ­posted last week on the federal Department of Environment website revealed that a series of excavations and burial ceremonies have been planned for “the ­reburial of 108 Willandra Lakes Aboriginal Ancestors at 26 sites within the Willandra Lakes ­Region World Heritage Area”.

“No markers will be installed to indicate the grave locations and the sites will be returned to existing conditions,” the post states. “Each reburial will be undertaken with a small private cultural ceremony as the remains are re-intermed close to the point of origin.”

Mungo Man was hailed as a globally important find in 1974 when Professor Bowler, a geologist, spotted human bones protruding from the dry surface of the Willandra Lakes region in NSW.

Professor Bowler and a team of archaeologists had already unearthed female remains, known as Mungo Woman or Mungo Lady, in 1968. Research determined that the pair were modern Homo sapiens who had been buried in elaborate funeral rituals. Mungo Woman bore evidence of one of the world’s earliest cremations, and Mungo Man was buried with his hands crossed in his lap and his body covered with red ochre.

Retired geologist Jim Bowler at his Melbourne home on Thursday. Picture: Aaron Francis

Professor Bowler, 91, said he was appalled that the plan – which is open for comment on the website for only 10 working days – would effectively destroy 40,000-year-old remains that constitute a “jewel” in the nation’s history.

“Reburying Mungo Man and Mungo Lady without acknowledgment would be a legacy of shame,” he said.

“To bury them secretly, to take them out into the bush and just dump them in the ground, lacks ­respect, and to have this occurring in a World Heritage area is ­scandalous.

“We have to seek a compromise to create a reburial that is a moment of celebration on a national scale, not one covered in a veil of secrecy.”

The plan has been submitted by the NSW government, which requires permission from federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley because the reburial earthworks would occur within a World Heritage Area.

It’s estimated that 28sq m would be required for 108 excavations scheduled to take place from September until December.

Aboriginal custodians of Lake Mungo have sought to bury their ancestors’ disturbed remains for decades. A decision for reburial was approved in November 2018 by a community-elected peak Aboriginal advisory group representing Barkindji/Paakantji, Mutthi Mutthi and Ngiyampaa peoples.

Custodian Patricia Winch, who chairs the group, said the reburials “have been a long time coming”.

Ms Winch said her people had worked hard to bring the remains of Mungo Man back from a Canberra research lab to Mungo ­National Park in 2017, where they have been kept in secure storage. “The next step is burial of Mungo Man – people know where he was taken from and the right people will know where he is,” she said.

On Professor Bowler’s comments, Ms Winch said: “He needs to stop interfering, he’s had his time. When Mungo Man was sitting on a shelf in Canberra, nobody worried about him then.”

Other elders strongly disagree with the plan. They said they were promised a “keeping place” at Lake Mungo where intact remains could be respectfully held and become the focus for national educational programs.

Mungo Man’s remains arrive at Mungo National Park in 2017. Picture: Aaron Francis

Mutthi Mutthi elder Mary Pappin said it was wrong to rebury her ancestor’s remains “without knowing where they are”.

“They can’t go back in the ground until we have a keeping place,” she said. “Our Aboriginal people will lose our cultural identity – this here is where Aboriginal people walked.”

Michael Young, a Barkindji man who oversaw the ceremonial return of Mungo Man, said burying archaeological relics in unmarked sites would rob Indige­nous people of their own research opportunities. “We need to keep telling our story but this (plan) is like the destruction of relics at Juukan Gorge,” he said.

The reburial plan called the loss of scientific research opportunities “an indirect impact” but not significant to Lake Mungo’s World Heritage status. It said other “newly exposed Aboriginal ancestors” would provide new ­material.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service, the NSW consent ­au­thority for the proposal, approved the reburial plan in January.

However, Michael Westaway, a palaeoanthropologist who studied 26 of the 108 individuals’ remains, said the loss to global science would be incalculable, as many human relics have not been properly studied.

“These hundred or so individuals are the most significant series of modern human remains outside of Africa,” he said.

A spokesman for Ms Ley said she accepted the matter was sensitive and she encouraged anyone interested to have their say. A decision on having an environmental assessment for the burial site disturbance is due on August 6.