The New South Wales Government is to return Aboriginal remains it has held for nearly 150 years.

Specimens of hair from eight Aboriginal people have been found in state archives and will be given back to the Ngunnawal people.

The specimens were collected in the 1850s at the request of an American diplomat.

State authorities discovered the hair after a letter written in response to the American request was found. The response was written by the Commissioner for Crown Lands and Bingalong and dated July 1857.

The Ngunnawal people will soon hold a ceremony to bury the locks of hair.