The Aboriginal population were deeply unhappy with this, and it's now about a decade since the situation was resolved in Australia - with human remains being either returned to cultural centres managed by Aborigines, or - with the consent of Aborigines - placed in keeping places in museums with very restricted access. Now Australians are looking to museums in Britain to come to a similar settlement.

Change is already taking place. There was a period when many small museums in the UK had an Aboriginal skeleton in their collections or on display - most of these have now been willingly returned. The two last significant holders of this material are the Natural History Museum and the British Museum.

In 2000, following a visit by Tony Blair to Australia, the UK declared that it would work to address the issue of Aboriginal remains in British museums. The result has been a report recommending that museums get discretionary power to de-accession their human remains, and law changes to make that possible. In March 2006 the British Museum returned two bundles of Tasmanian ashes back to Australia. The Natural History Museum followed suit in late 2006, also returning Tasmanian remains

But this is still divisive issue in the museum world - with places holding Aboriginal remains arguing about the loss to science, whilst others put a moral case for returning the bodies in spite of this. Helena Kennedy, a trustee of the British Museum, gives an insight into the debates that led to the return of the Tasmanian ashes.

One curator speaking to untoldLondon said "It is a shame to lose the opportunities for research - but the circumstances in which we took these objects are so awful, that we ought to just accept that and send them back."

It will be interesting to see how the situation develops in UK museums, but with a legal framework in place allowing returns, it seems that more are very likely. Of course the issue has a resonance far beyond the Aboriginal community. London museums hold body parts from all over the world from Egyptian mummies, to bones dug from London mud. A complex interplay of how these bodies were obtained, the view of the descendants of those people, and prevailing museum culture will probably bring different solutions for different groups.