Smithsonian returns Indigenous remains to Australia

Linda Burney: repatriation of First Nations ancestors is an important step towards reconciliation. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

The ancestral remains of 14 Indigenous people have been returned to Australia from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC.

A ceremony was held overnight in the US marking their repatriation to Australia before the Indigenous ancestors will be returned to their traditional custodians.