Dr Glenville Ash­by

Nev­er­the­less, Dou­glas called the cir­cum­stances of the dis­cov­ery "per­fect," be­cause such finds by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment de­mand­ed pro­cure­ment and pro­tec­tion of such sites. He lat­er spoke of the en­su­ing con­gres­sion­al hear­ings and the de­ci­sion to build a mu­se­um and erect a mon­u­ment un­der the purview of the Na­tion­al Park Ser­vice. "There were ob­jec­tions, as some want­ed the area un­touched and sim­ply memo­ri­alised by an eter­nal flame," he ad­mit­ted, though he did not share such sen­ti­ments. "All the re­mains were care­ful­ly re-in­terred and the mu­se­um and mon­u­ment have grown in rel­e­vance and im­por­tance on a na­tion­al and glob­al lev­el," he ar­gued. Vis­i­tors in the tens of thou­sands now stream through the mul­ti­me­dia mu­se­um an­nu­al­ly. Dou­glas is moved by his work. 'This here is the best medi­um to ho­n­our the an­ces­tors...to tell their sto­ry, their tri­als and tri­umphs," he said, re­call­ing its gala open­ing in 1991. "There is no re­sent­ment. What we have here is sa­cred and so many of us for­get the spir­i­tu­al side to all this. I feel ho­n­oured that I am car­ry­ing out the mes­sage of my an­ces­tors. "I re­al­ly be­lieve I am here to per­form their will," he end­ed.