An invaluable piece of Aboriginal heritage unaccounted for by its community since 1963 has been rediscovered and returned to its Northern Territory traditional owners, after it spent the past 29 years hanging in a Kimberley woman's home.
The Yirrkala Bark Petitions are a series of petitions created by the Yolngu people in the early 1960s, seeking compensation and recognition of traditional lands on the Gove Peninsula in North East Arnhem Land.
Two of the petitions were put to Parliament in 1963 and remain on display at Parliament House. The other two were kept by politicians.
They have spent the past five decades in different places across the country.
The third petition was donated to the National Museum of Australia by the Bryant family and in an emotional ceremony on Sunday, the Yolngu people welcomed back the fourth and final missing piece of history.
Five Yolngu representatives travelled more than 2,000 kilometres from Yirrkala community to the Derby home of Joan McKie, where the symbolic artefact was hung on the wall.
Ms McKie is the first wife of Stan Davey, who worked as the secretary of the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement at the time the petitions were put to parliament.
Mr Davey came into the possession of the painting while working with former minister for Indigenous Affairs Gordon Bryant.
It would then follow Ms McKie for 49 years after their marriage ended and after travelling between Melbourne and Brisbane, it has spent the past 29 years on the wall of her Derby home.
Ms McKie felt it was time to give the historical document back to the Yolngu people.
"It was just something I brought with me, the same as I bring my pots and pans and everything else," she said.
"The best place for it now is back at Yirrkala with the people."
Yananymul Mununggurr is the daughter of the sole surviving signatory to the petitions, Dhunggala Mununggurr.
She travelled to Derby on behalf of her father and felt proud to represent her family.
"For me to be a part of this project was an honour," she said.
"We want to be able to tell the story and history of our ngalapalmirr [ancestors]."
Ms Mununggurr said she was concerned for her father's health and hoped he would witness the return to country.
"It's something for me and my family to hold onto because my dad is a part of that history making," she said.
"I'm going to try and keep him strong so he's there when the petitions go back to Yirrkala."
Ceremonial handover
Academics, conservators and a film crew attended the ceremony to document the historic handover.
Yolngu elder Waka Mununggurr represented the Dhuwa clans.
He said the song the group performed symbolised bringing the different Yolngu clans together.
"The performance represents the fresh water flowing down to meet with the other clans," he said.
"I know it was sad to take the painting from the family, but I feel very proud to bring it back to where the songlines, patterns and ceremonies belong."
Mr Munungurr said he felt the painting connected him to the Davey family.
"It [brought] us together and created a relationship."
Colourful history
At the time, the Menzies government permitted bauxite mining in the Gove Peninsula area and excised land without consulting traditional owners.
Two of the bark petitions were presented to the Commonwealth Parliament in the hope the Yolngu people could be compensated for the use of their land.
One of the petitions was rejected on August 14, 1963; a second was accepted two weeks later.
The petition that was accepted led to a select committee enquiry into the grievances of the Yolu people.
The committee made recommendations in the Yolngu's favour but the recommendations were not followed and mining commenced in 1968, which led to the Yolngu taking a case to court against the mining company, Nabalco.
The case, known as the Gove land rights case, failed when the judge deemed that Australian law could not recognise the Yolngu people's relationship with the land as property relations.
The bark petitions were instrumental in discussions about land rights and were the first to include both English and First Nations language.
However, the location of the fourth petition had remained a mystery, until recently.
Professor Clare Wright is a historian at La Trobe University and her research tracked the fourth petition to Derby.
"It took me a long time to figure out how Derby became connected to this story and how the final fourth missing petition got here," she said.
She felt honoured to facilitate the repatriation.
"It's a moment of truth-telling," she said.
"It's the culmination of an enormous amount of research and it's really hard to put into words what this day means for me."
The Bark Petition will undergo conservation work in Adelaide before returning home to Yirrkala.
Editor's note 17/02/2023: Details is this article have been updated to ensure it is historically accurate.
