Australia's oldest remains have been buried despite an eleventh-hour legal challenge, leaving traditional owners "outraged".
The 42,000-year-old remains of Mungo Man, Mungo Lady and 106 other Indigenous skeletons, which were removed in the 1960s and 1970s without the permission of traditional owners, were proposed to be re-interred at unmarked sites in the Willandra Lakes region of south-west New South Wales.
A group of traditional owners representing the area's three Indigenous groups, the Mutthi Mutthi, Ngiyampaa, and Barkandji-Paakantyi, filed an injunction earlier this week under section 9 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984, to prevent the burial.
A statement the federal Department of Agriculture, Water, and Environment on Tuesday said the re-burial had been delayed until the incoming federal minister had assessed the application.
However, the department said it had since been advised the remains had been buried.
"It was the department's expectation, based on communication with the NSW Government, that the re-burial would not be occurring," the statement reads.
Mutthi Mutthi man Jason Kelly said he was devastated by the decision.
"We want to know how this has happened and who is responsible for this desecration.
"This is just so disrespectful on all fronts and goes against the wishes of hundreds of past and present elders who have pleaded for a culturally-appropriate re-burial for our ancestors."
Mr Kelly has called on the NSW Environment Minister James Griffin to investigate how the burial went ahead.
"We call on the minister to tell us where the remains are now buried, so that we can provide Mungo Man and Mungo Lady with a culturally-appropriate public memorial on country."
Paakantyi man Michael Young said First Nations people across the country had been disrespected by the action.
"We are still getting our heritage destroyed at an alarming rate by organisations and now government officials," he said.
Mr Young said those responsible should be held accountable for the "destruction".
"I think these people have done a criminal act, a criminal act against Indigenous people," he said.
"You don't take it on yourself to destroy 42,000-year-old human remains, these people have got to be prosecuted."
The ABC approached the Aboriginal Advisory Group, who have previously supported the re-burial, for comment.
A Heritage NSW spokesperson said an investigation was under way into the removal of some remains from where they were being stored.
