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Indigenous collections have been present in Western museums for many centuries, yet the recog nition and inclusion of indigenous people as active agents in the museum process is still a relatively recent phenomenon. The impact of indigenous actors and ideas on contemporary museum practice was the theme of a conference held 18-19 June 2015, in partnership with the Centre for Heritage and Museums (Australian National University) and the National Museum of Australia. The conference, titled Return of the Native: Contestation, Collaboration, and Co-authorship in Museum Spaces, brought together a diverse array of academics, museum professionals, and cultural representatives to discuss how indigenous agents and ideas have influenced and infiltrated museum spaces. The concept of "indigenizing the museum" is an important emerging paradigm for twentyfirst century museums. Within the space of a few decades we have seen radical shifts in the ways in which museums as operational entities conceptualize their core values and functions in relation to the collection, care, and display of indigenous material culture. While acknowledging the contribution of non-indigenous museum staff in this process, the speakers in this conference focused mainly on contemporary examples of where indigenous agents were driving this process-through specific acts of contestation, collaboration, or co-authorship. In the hands of this particular selection of speakers, the case studies and commentaries offered a number of new insights regarding the influence of indigenous agency on heritage and museum practices in Australia, New Zealand, North America, and the Pacific. Roughly half of the speakers were indigenous and half were non-indigenous. It was refreshing and invigorating to have speakers with such solid and creditable reputations in their multiple disciplines contribute their views in direct, passionate, respectful, and engaging presentations. Emerging Themes Throughout the two-day program a set of themes emerged that broadened, deepened, and intensified over the course of discussion. The conference opened with a special welcome by Paul House on behalf of the Walgalu Ngambri-Ngurmal and Ngunnawal-Wallabollooa Aboriginal people of the Canberra region. His welcome responded to the conference title Return of the Native and instead of a brief protocol-style welcome, he gave an informative presentation that aptly demonstrated local agency and engagement. This provided an excellent entry into the first day's discussions centering