No Trains to Warnambool

[old man emu]

Ancient indigenous remains have been uncovered at Warrnambool on Victoria's south-west coast. The human remains were found by construction workers near Warrnambool Cemetery and the V/Line railway track. The track work being carried out was planned to upgrade the level or passenger and freight services on the line. Anthropologists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine analysed the bones and confirmed they belonged to an Indigenous ancestor. At this early date, the age of the remains has not been determined

 

The remains were discovered a few hundred metres from Hopkins River and about a kilometre from ancient Aboriginal site Moyjil (also known as Point Ritchie). Moyjil is the site of what the CSIRO calls "an unusual shell deposit … showing many characteristics of a midden". According to First Peoples State Relations, Aboriginal burial sites "tend to be near watercourses or in dunes surrounding old lake beds".

They are "often near or within Aboriginal occupation places such as oven mounds, shell middens, or artefact scatters," the organisation says.

 

It is unclear what the discovery means for the future of the construction work, which is managed by Rail Projects Victoria. It is too soon after the discovery to know what the local Aboriginal community will decide about future disturbance of the location. That decision may impact upon the completion of the rail upgrade work.

 

Victorian Minister for Treaty and First Nations People Natalie Hutchins said the discovery was "incredibly significant". "It highlights why we have laws in place to ensure Aboriginal and traditional owners have appropriate powers to safeguard ancestral remains," she said in a statement.

 

 

[octave]

I am a bit confused by the title of this thread "No Trains to Warrnambool"    I know of the story but are far as I am aware trains are unaffected. Is there information I am unaware of or is this to dramatize the subject?

[old man emu]

54 minutes ago, octave said:

I am a bit confused by the title of this thread "No Trains to Warrnambool" 

 

I'm a really Hep Cat with this online stuff. The title is what's called "clickbait", and I got you hook, line and sinker.

[facthunter]

Self appraisement is not the most trusted .  and SKY do that stuff all the time.   Nev

[old man emu]

In my initial post I was trying to imply that as things stand with anything relating to Aboriginal culture, the finding of the remains which can be determined to be Aboriginal frequently leads to the cessation of the modern activity that led to the discovery.

 

I surely hope that the surroundings of the find will be properly excavated by qualified archeologists in an attempt to learn something of burial customs at the time the body was buried.  I see no reason why, after proper examination of the remains, and any artifacts associated with the burial, those things be returned to the local Aboriginal community for reinterment in a suitable location.