“Waka Ŋurrkanhayŋu - Regenerating the existence of life”: Bringing back our ancestors and belongings & giving back ancestors and belongings

Since 2020, the Waka Ŋurrkanhayŋu team consisting of Yolŋu Ŋgorrudawalngu (clan leaders) and Djuŋgaya (CEO/Guardians) from the 16 Clans living on the very remote Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island and Western researchers have been working two-way to restore Yolŋu living again according to their Yolŋu ROM. We identified eight intertwined pathways for strengthening us. The ‘bringing back Yolŋu belongings pathway’ gained momentum at the AIATSIS Summit 2023 when we connected with staff of the Australian Museum, AIATSIS Collections and ABC Archive. We discovered that each of them holds different Yolŋu belongings - our ancestors and diverse artifacts including secret sacred artifacts (AM); collections of video and sound recordings, photos, manuscripts (AIATSIS); and video and sound recordings (ABC). Rather each institution trying to give back our belongings separately, we joined forces and are working together two-way. In the ensuing months, we yarned several times via ZOOM to create relationships with each other and work out a pathway for us Yolŋu to bring back our belongings and for the three organisations to give us back our belongings. The first step that emerged was four of us Yolŋu to visit all three institutions for several days in July 2024 to see our belongings for the first time and get an overview of our belongings. This transformative visit led to us now working on bringing back our first ancestor. We offer insights into our profoundly healing and transformative journey including the diverse values for each party involved and the challenges from our respective three perspectives.