The Kaurna community has laid to rest more Ancestors during an emotional ceremony at Wangayarta.
The fittingly grey skies opened and rain mingled with tears at the fourth and final repatriation ceremony on 21 October for Kaurna remains repatriated from the South Australian Museum, University of Adelaide, Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation and Edinburgh University.
The southern mound is one of four reburial mounds created so Kaurna Ancestors disturbed from southern parts of Kaurna Country last century can be reburied together.
Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation (KYAC) Chair Mitzi Nam spoke on behalf of the Kaurna community.
“I’d like to acknowledge the past Chairs and Directors of KYAC, the South Australian Museum, and everyone who helped make Wangayarta possible,” she said.
“We have now reburied Ancestors from the north, south, east and west of Kaurna Yerta – but this will not be the last reburial. There are still Ancestors here and overseas who must be brought home and laid to rest.
“We are deeply relieved that our Old People’s spirits can now reunite and rest peacefully.”
Wangayarta is a dedicated memorial/reburial park designed by the Kaurna community in 2019/2020 as a pilot repatriation project in South Australia. Led by KYAC, the park was created to re-inter disturbed Ancestors held for decades at the South Australian Museum and Adelaide University.
Emotional reburial ceremonies have been held at Wangayarta since December 2021 for Kaurna remains from all parts of Kaurna Country. The first Kaurna Ancestor reburied during that first ceremony at the northern mound had been at the museum since 1899.
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