Aboriginal artefacts unearthed on the grounds of the city's hospital have been returned to the Griffith Local Aboriginal Land Council.
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The artefacts found in 2020 during exploratory digging as Griffith Base Hospital's re-development broke ground.
On Monday, a ceremony was held at the hospital to return around 3000 artefacts to the Wiradjuri community.
Griffith Local Aboriginal Land Council chairperson Vickie Simpson said there was an opportunity to speak to the Wiradjuri community and the wider community
"It reaffirms that we have been here for thousands of years," Ms Simpson said.
She said not only would the artefacts be used to tell stories of Wiradjuri ancestors to the city's Aboriginal community also to the wider community of Griffith.
For Aboriginal people in Griffith, the artefacts could tell of how Wiradjuri people camped at and prepared for important ceremonies where the base hospital is, before walking to Scenic Hill for those ceremonies.
"Our history isn't written down in book, it's told through story-telling, through our songs and our dances," she said.
"It's an opportunity to learn more and unearth more."
Wiradjuri elder Uncle James Williams led a smoking ceremony to cleanse the the artefacts of any bad spirits from the artefacts.
"It's a reminder that the Aboriginal people did occupy this country for thousands and thousands of years," Mr Williams said.
Archaelogist Jillian Comber said there were two types of artefacts identified, stone flakes to make tools made at the site, and other stone flakes which had been brought to the site made elsewhere when material was brought to the site for landscaping.
The different types had been made with two distinct methods.
"It shows to us the ingenuity of the Wiradjuri that were living here, in being able to change the manufacturing techniques depending on what is required," she said.
"These artefacts are exceptionally important to the Aboriginal community because they're giving information about the past, about culture and about connection to land."
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Ms Comber said using oral history it was found the hill the hospital is now on was a campsite used for Aboriginal people to stay at and prepare for ceremonies which took place on Scenic Hill.
She said it explained how the in-situ artefacts came to be found at the hospital site.
How the artefacts are displayed is still to be determined by Griffith Aboriginal Land Council.
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