Imagine walking along a riverbank and stumbling upon centuries-old human remains in a shallow grave uncovered by floodwaters.
Such a discovery isn't as unusual as you might think, according to the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council.
The state government-backed Indigenous organisation has a dedicated agency to handle such situations and it's run by Sissy Pettit Havea.
Ms Pettit Havea said it was not uncommon for her team to be called to three to four such cases per week.
Her team was involved in a recent investigation that determined bones uncovered by Murray River flooding at Red Cliffs, near Mildura, belonged to an Aboriginal ancestor who died hundreds of years ago.
"The first thing we did in this case was to mitigate further harm," Ms Pettit Havea said.
"From there, council's policies were implemented with an eventual transfer of remains to the rightful traditional owners."
Shallow riverside grave
The police investigation began in January when a member of the public found the bones in a shallow grave near the Murray River.
"We were able to speak to scientists in Melbourne who confirmed that they were human remains, so a crime scene was established," said Mildura Police Superintendent John O'Connor.
Superintendent O'Connor said any speculation of foul play or suspicious circumstances was short-lived.
A team of police forensic workers and anthropologists visited the site and established the remains were "hundreds of years old".
"Even a layman looking at them would have realised that they've been there for a very long period of time," Superintendent O'Connor said.
"We believe that with the recent floods, what has happened is a lot of the topsoil has been moved away and the shallow grave has exposed the bones."
After police investigated, they handed the matter on to the coroner, who determined that the bones were of Aboriginal origin.
Responsibility for the remains was then passed to Ms Pettit Havea's Ancestral Remains Unit to co-ordinate an eventual reburial, alongside Parks Victoria and "the rightful traditional owners".
The remains are likely to be reburied in the coming weeks.
What if you find remains?
Ms Pettit Havea emphasised that anyone who came across what they suspected could be human remains should leave them be.
"It is not recommended to remove the bones … it may not be ancestral remains, and it could be a reportable death," she said.
"If you discover bones you believe to be human, and potentially Aboriginal in ancestry, the ideal thing to do is leave the bones in place.
"You could do a pin drop to record the location, take some really good, clear photos and call Victoria Police or the Coroner's office.
"And it's worth noting also, there are penalties for knowingly causing harm to Aboriginal cultural heritage, including ancestral remains, under the Victorian cultural heritage law."
Traditional custodians divided
The riverside site at Red Cliffs where the remains were uncovered is commonly agreed to be on Latji Latji lands.
But the Sunraysia region is at the centre of contention over native title, with tensions between the Latji Latji people and the Nyeri Nyeri, who argue their traditional lands overlap.
A Nyeri Nyeri spokesperson involved in current Native Title and Aboriginal Heritage Council hearings said they expected to be involved even though they were not the official registered Aboriginal party.
"The remains were found on our land so that's our ancestor and we want to be involved in the process of returning them," they said.
"It's important we get this cultural stuff right."
Latji Latji and Tati Tati man Brendan Kennedy said he had not yet been contacted, but believed ancestral remains issues should be handled at a local level.
"We have our own ancestral and traditional owner cultural inheritance council … it's been in place since time immemorial, based on our cultural lore," he said.
"We recognise who our neighbours are based on 2,000 generations of existence with each other on country."
