Bundjalung Elder's 30-Year Fight to Bring Ancestor Home

Aunty Ros Sten was just five years old when her grandmother first showed her the copper breastplate hanging high on a museum wall. The crescent-shaped artifact, given to her great-great-grandfather Jack Kapeen in 1865, seemed like just another piece of metal to young Ros, but to her nanny, it was everything.

That moment would spark a 30-year mission that continues today. The breastplate mysteriously vanished from the Lismore Museum around 1965, and Aunty Ros has spent three decades trying to bring it home to Bundjalung Country in New South Wales.

In 2011, she came heartbreakingly close. A local journalist tipped her off that the breastplate was listed for auction at Bonhams, just days before the sale. Aunty Ros immediately called the auction house, offering up to $5,000 and pleading with them to halt the sale.

The auctioneer promised to consider her offer if the breastplate didn't meet its reserve price. Instead, it sold to a private collector for $3,360, less than what the family had offered.

"It's not about the value, I don't know how people can value pain," Aunty Ros said. The breastplate now sits in an unknown private collection while her family continues to call for its return.

Now her niece Mindy Woods has joined the fight. Together, they're demanding that the artifact be returned and publicly displayed as recognition of Aboriginal history. "We've had elders pass and not have this returned before they've passed on," Woods said.

The Ripple Effect

Aunty Ros and Mindy's campaign represents something much bigger than one family's heirloom. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies says roughly 130,000 Indigenous cultural objects remain in overseas collections alone, with countless more in private hands within Australia.

Since 2018, AIATSIS has successfully brought home almost 2,300 items from international institutions. Chief Executive Leonard Hill says the momentum is building as more communities speak up and more collectors recognize the importance of returning cultural heritage to Country.

"The opportunity for Indigenous communities to repatriate material back to Country is becoming much more prevalent," Hill said. Each success story paves the way for families like Aunty Ros's to keep fighting.

The Bundjalung elders aren't asking for the breastplate to be hidden away. They want it shared with everyone, displayed publicly where all Australians can learn from it. "It belongs to the Country where it comes from," Aunty Ros said. "It's recognition that we were there."

After 30 years of persistence, this determined family is proving that some connections are too sacred to stay broken.