Maureen Reyland [interview]

Maureen Reyland 17 November 2017, Mildura, VIC.

Maureen’s family are Muthi Muthi and she grew up in Balranald, NSW. Her mother Alice Kelly along with Tibby Briar and Alice Bugmy were the first Aboriginal people to challenge the work of the scientific community at Mungo National Park in southwestern NSW. Maureen travelled to the National Museum in Canberra with other Aboriginal elders to collect Mungo Man and the remains of over one hundred aboriginal people and take them to Mungo National Park.

This interview was part of a collaboration between Louise Darmody and the State Library of New South Wales. The interviews were conducted by Louise Darmody, journalist, oral historian, producer, and founder of Sound Memories an oral history and documentary-making firm established in 2003.

These oral history recordings document the personal stories behind the Mungo Man historic repatriation process which took place on the 16-19th November 2017. After 43 years the Traditional Custodians brought Mungo Man and other internationally significant ancestral remains home to Mungo National Park within the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage area in New South Wales.

The full catalogue record is online at http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110616048

Part of this interview has been transcribed and is available in Amplify at https://amplify.gov.au/transcripts/Maureen_Reyland_Interview_20171117