Three ancestors of the Yung Balug clan of Victoria's Dja Dja Wurrung were brought home, over 40 years after the Museum of Victoria took them for research.
Yung Balug clan-member Jida Gulpilil describes the ceremony which welcomes the remains home as "empowering".
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"There's an unsettled emotion that we carry with us before, during and after the process but it's an empowering ceremony that we bring back," he told SBS.
The remains of thousands of Indigenous Australians are still in museums around Australia and overseas.
Robin Hirst from the Museum of Victoria says the museum works with descendants of the bodies wherever possible.
"We contact various traditional owners, or they contact us, then we work through the process of deaccessioning them from the collection," he said.
But the preservation of history goes beyond returned remains.
The land that these people are returning to is considered one of the most significant historical sites in Australia.
Local historian Paul Haw says the Dja Dja Warrung hold possibly the largest collection of trees scarred by traditional canoe making methods.
This would have been done around 1800 - which is a long time ago. It must be protected - this is Australian history."
