02:40:44 Merata Mita introduces FROM SPIRIT TO SPIRIT
“For over a century archaeologists have been digging up Aboriginal remains, violating a culture in the name of science. Australia’s Mungo Lake, once vast and surrounded by forests is now a mystical wind-swept desert and the sight of the world’s oldest known cremation. This documentary examines the reappropriation of Aboriginal remains and a cultural survival. We travel with Aboriginal film-maker Marie Bennett and her elders to discover the past. To connect with a woman over 27,000 years old.”
In a dream time 27,000 years ago, a young Aboriginal woman lived around the Lake Mungo district of South West NSW, Australia. At around 25 years of age she died and received a very unusual burial. She was cremated. In 1960 she made headlines, as the world’s oldest cremation when archaeologists dug up her remains for study and research.
02:42:45 MUNGO LADY
Aboriginal film-maker Mari Bennett travels back to make contact with the Mungo Lady.
She made this documentary because the Mungo Lady’s remains were taken from the place that she was buried and returned in 1992? aftter being away for over 23 years.
Elsie Jones, Lottie Brodie, Alice Bugmy - These three woman are elders of the Barkinji Tribe and are amongst the last speakers of the Barkinji language. They have lived here all their lives and know the land intimately.
02:46:03 Allan Thorne, Archeologist: Explains why they think scientific research is necessary. For over 100 years European archeologists have had an obsession with digging up the remains of Aboriginal ancestors. In the name of science, they examine, analyse and study the remains, to determine what Aboriginal people already know from the Dream Time, which is their science and history. Millions of dollars are spent for equipment, all dedicated to the sacrilege of Aboriginal ancestors.
The Mungo Lady is proof to the world that Aboriginal people have existed in Australia since the Dawn of Time; they do not claim any other country or religion. The Aboriginal people are spiritual, with signs and ceremonies that go with these places. The wedge-tailed eagle is the ‘Dreaming’ for the Mungo Lake area is magical and with a profound effect on those to visit this place.
02:54:17 Badger Bates, Sacred Sites Recorder: Claims archaeologists could research other things out in Mungo Lake area, rather than concentrate on ancestors remains.
02:55:55 Allan Thorne returned the Mungo Lake woman’s remains to Lake Mungo in January 1992 and after discussion with the elders formerly handed the remains over to people on the exact spot they were discovered more than 20 years previously.
02:56:50 Handback Ceremony, Mungo Lake 1992:
The remains, however, are still missing from the exact spot, they are being stored in a bank vault. The day before Mari was due to leave, the elders took her to the sacred place where the Mungo Lady had been cremated and buried by her people. For Marie it was the highlight. Her final quote “It’s true, I’m her Black Mungo..... with the lady I’ve been waiting to meet for some time.”
03:03:43