Mungo Man and Mungo Lady are among the most significant human remains found in Australia. The discovery of their 42,000 year old remains rewrote Australian history, giving evidence of continuous Indigenous history. The NSW government is proposing to rebury these ancestral remains and the remains of 106 other individuals in secret, unmarked graves.

Please sign the petition calling on the NSW government to listen to the many Traditional Owners who are calling for a respectful and reverent reburial with appropriate cultural memorials.

We are the Friends of Mungo - traditional owners, custodians, descendants, and allies, who all share links to the Willandra Lakes area. We have outlined a three stage process that the government can follow to return these iconic human remains to their sands of Lake Mungo from where they come. The 3 stage process involves the immediate reburial of the remains followed by broader consultations with the community about setting up further infrastructure (Keeping Place, Memorials, Education Centre, Cultural Centre) over the next 18 months.

In August, the Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley assessed this proposal as a “controlled action” which means the NSW government must undertake further community consultation before making any decision. Please sign and share our petition to support our calls.

Mungo lady has been in a box since 1993, for nearly 40 years without being returned to the land. We urge the government to properly consult and listen to our community  to honour Australia’s oldest human remains within the magical landscape of Australia’s oldest World Heritage Site. 

You can see our planned proposal to the government here.