A lengthy dispute over Australian Aboriginal remains held at the Natural History Museum in London has now been resolved.

Tasmanian officials and the museum agreed that the remains would be returned after limited tests had been conducted.

The museum received the remains in the 1940s from other institutions and they will now receive a burial in Tasmania.

Australian Aboriginal leaders have been calling for 20 years for the remains of 17 indigenous Tasmanians, dating from the 19th century, to be returned home.

The bones have now received a traditional welcome on their arrival in Hobart, brought by Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) delegates Caroline Spotswood and Greg Brown.

According to Aboriginal beliefs, a soul remains in torment if remains are not buried in a person's native land.

The agreement between the Natural History Museum and Aboriginal leaders is now expected to lead to further calls for remains to be returned by other institutions in the UK, such as Oxford and Cambridge universities.