Public apology to the palawa Community by The Royal Society and TMAG

Today the Royal Society of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) publicly apologised to our community for past wrongdoings and contributions to systemic racism and dispossession. It’s an apology long overdue; the battle for 14,000-year-old petroglyphs to be returned to Preminghana in the state’s far north-west, for example, has been fought for decades.

Yet it’s a start that two of lutruwita/Tasmania’s oldest colonial institutions have admitted to and apologised for “nearly 200 years of practices [that] were morally wrong”. Along with the public apology they both commit to healing the damage done and promise to shoulder the costs of returning the petroglyphs home.

A warning to all readers, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, that this comprehensive coverage of the story by ABC journalist Erin Cooper contains descriptions of genocide, mutilation, grave robbing and the trading of human remains. Please take care when consuming this media.

The article can be found here and livestream video footage of the event and a downloadable version of the apology are available here.