In the post-colonial era, disputes concerning the retention of indigenous objects in museums have become controversial, both within the academic community and in the public arena. Anthropologists and museologists are becoming increasingly aware of the value of these artefacts to indigenous people, regardless of their alienation and recontextualisation within the museum. This papers considers the potential reasons for lack of repatriation of heritage objects from colonial museums, and offers mechanisms that will aid in the future restitution of cultural patrimony on a global scale. In order to analyse this, issues of object agency, legality, finance, and socio-politics within the repatriation process to marginalised indigenous groups will be discussed, as informed by Alfred Gell’s theory of object agency. This is exemplified through the case study of West Papuan ancestral figures held in the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.