A delegation of Aborigines have demanded the return of a relic being held by a city museum.

Members of the Ngarrindjeri community in southern Australia met senior members of Brighton and Hove City Council yesterday.

The delegates, accompanied by staff from the Australian Government and Australian High Commission in London, urged the city to hand over a water carrier carved from an Aboriginal skull.

They were led by elder Major Sumner, who took part in a ceremony in his traditional dress in London earlier this week.

The delegation told the council they should hand over the skull in line with an agreement between the Australian and British governments.

The city’s museum service has previously refused to give back the artefact on the basis it would set a precedent for having to return other items to their countries of origin.

The vessel is believed to be particularly rare, only one is known of in an Australian museum and a handful more in European collections.

The council has already returned other Aboriginal relics from the Booth Museum in Dyke Road, Brighton. They were two skulls and two thigh bones.

The council’s representatives were led by Councillor David Smith, cabinet member for tourism, sport and culture.

He said: “We had a fruitful meeting and I believe we will find a way forward. The issue will be considered by the council’s cabinet at a meeting next Thursday and we will publicise our decision afterwards.”

The relic has been stored in Brighton since 1925 when it was donated by F W Lucas, a local collector who brought back objects from across the world.

It was spotted by representatives of the Office Of Indigenous Policy Co-ordination who visited the museum in 2005.

Councillor Melanie Davis, Labour opposition spokeswoman for culture, said: “My understanding is we’re in a situation like the Elgin Marbles, we can’t give it back because then there would be a precedent and a lot more items would have to go back. Clearly, it is important to the Ngarrindjeri and it would be good to hand it over but there is a legal precedent to consider.”

She said the water vessel had a different categorisation to the returned bones because it had been carved out, making it an artefact.

andy.chiles@theargus.co.uk