The remains of Mungo Man have been returned to his ancestral homeland in remote western NSW some 42,000 years after he walked the land, with traditional owners saying "his spirit will be relieved".
But, with no long-term plan for a permanent resting place, some say his journey is not quite over.
More than four decades after the remains were excavated and taken to Canberra, an emotional repatriation ceremony was held on the shores of the world-heritage dry salt Lake Mungo on Friday.
"(It's) so good to have him back after all those years he has been taken away ... I'm so glad he is back, to put him in his resting place," Ngiyampaa elder Aunty Joan Slade told reporters.
Mungo Man had been in the care of the Australian National University which handed him back two years ago and formally apologised to the traditional owners for the pain caused by Mungo Man being removed.
"His spirit will be relieved and then he will be released when we put him back in the ground to his place where he came from," Aunty Patsy Winch from the Mutthi Mutthi people said.
NSW Heritage Minister Gabrielle Upton says local Aboriginal people have been instrumental in the significant journey.
The return of the remains was "not only for them and for the local Aboriginal community but for NSW, for the nation and for our world", she said at Lake Mungo.
Researcher Jim Bowler first discovered remains on the shore of Lake Mungo, 750 kilometres west of Sydney, in 1968.
He and an Australian National University team initially unearthed the remains of Mungo Lady, who'd been cremated then buried more than 40,000 years ago.
Then, in 1974, Dr Bowler discovered further ochre-adorned remains from a similar period. They become known as Mungo Man.
In 1992, after decades of campaigning by local communities, the Lady's remains were returned to Lake Mungo.
But it's taken another 25 years for a hearse carrying Mungo Man, along with the remains of 104 other ice-age people removed from the land, to make the long journey from the capital back to the lake.
Elders from the three Aboriginal nations which converge near Lake Mungo are still debating what to do with the remains now they're home.
Many want to rebury Mungo Man on the site, but others want the remains kept more accessible for future generations and researchers.
AAP understands for now Mungo Man will be stored with Mungo Lady in a vault near the visitor's centre at the world heritage site.
Dr Bowler used the repatriation of his most significant discovery to call on the Australian and NSW governments to fund a permanent dignified resting place for all Willandra remains.
There needed to be a memorial to both Mungo Lady and Mungo Man, he said.
"Here we are, 43 years after he emerged, and still nowhere properly dignified to put him.
"This is the end of one journey but hopefully the beginning of the next."
