About the Garma Festival
[WHAT IS GARMA] [PURPOSE OF GARMA] [SHOWCASE EVENTS] [GULKULA: THE FESTIVAL SITE]
What is Garma
“A
garma is a sort of place – of rich resources for many
people, this garma thing. For all yolngu [people]. Like
this, all yolngu always used to come to this thing garma,
coming together, all different groups.” Gunygulu Yunupingu
The ancient sound of the yidaki
(didgeridu) is a call to all people to come together in
unity. This call will announce the annual Garma, the largest
and most vibrant celebration of Yolngu Aboriginal people of north east Arnhem Land) culture in
recent memory.
Regarded as one of Australia's
most significant Indigenous festivals, the Garma Festival attracts around 20 clan groups from north
east Arnhem Land, as well as representatives from clan
groups and neighbouring Indigenous peoples throughout Arnhem
Land, the Northern Territory and Australia.
Garma
implies many things for Yolngu, as a practice and as a place.
Garma happens when people with different ideas and values
come together and negotiate knowledge in a respectful learning
environment. The Garma Festival at Gulkula creates this kind
of environment for Yolngu (Aboriginal people of northeast
Arnhem Land) and Balanda (Non-Indigenous Australians).
Mandawuy Yunupingu explains:
We’re
living in fluid times, trying to discover in more profound
ways what it is to be Australian. I think the vast majority
of Australians would agree that Aboriginal Australians have
a special contribution to make to that. But there seems
to be a problem. I think most non-Aboriginal Australian
accept that there is a deep intellectual strength to Aboriginal
knowledge, but they seem to think of it as a mystery. I
hope we are less of a mystery now.
Purpose of Garma
Yolngu culture in north-east Arnhem Land — a heartland of
Aboriginal culture and land rights — is among the oldest
living cultures on earth, stretching back more than 40,000
years.
The Garma Festival is a celebration of
the Yolngu cultural inheritance. The Garma ceremony
is aimed at sharing knowledge and culture, and opening people’s
hearts to the message of the land at Gulkula. The
site at Gulkula has profound meaning for Yolngu.
Set in a stringybark forest with views to the Gulf of Carpentaria, Gulkula is where the ancestor Ganbulabula brought the yidaki (didjeridu) into being among the
Gumatj people. The festival is designed to encourage the
practice, preservation and maintenance of traditional dance
(bunggul), song (manikay), art and ceremony on Yolngu lands
in Northeast Arnhem Land.
Showcase Events
|
In addition to the
spectacular and awe-inspiring bunggul (ceremonial
performance), the festival showcases: |
 |
Award-winning and internationally
acclaimed visual artists of the region -- men and
women -- painting Nuku Dhulang (traditional clan
designs on bark) |
 |
Women’s cultural
practices including field trips for the collection of
bush tucker, bush medicine and pandanus leaves and bush
dyes for weaving |
 |
Yidaki masterclass,
with selected students from all over the world, including
field trips to collect termite-hollowed logs |
 |
Indigenous knowledge
of land and seas site expeditions; bush tucker, interpretive
walks |
 |
The craft of spear
making and deadly accurate spear throwing for hunting
fish, turtle, dugong, kangaroo, wallaby and goanna |
 |
Each year
the Garma Festival incorporates an academic Forum with a particular focus |
Garma is organised by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, a
not-for-profit Aboriginal charitable corporation with
charitable status. All attendance fees and other revenues
received go to the operation of the Foundation's programs and
projects, such as Garma, to achieve the following outcomes:
- Encouraging and
developing economic opportunities for Yolngu through
education, training, employment and enterprise development
- Sharing knowledge
and culture, thereby fostering greater understanding between
indigenous and non-indigenous Australians
- Nurturing and
maintaining of Yolngu cultural traditions and practices
Garma is one of
Australia's most significant cultural exchange events, a key
educational forum, and an award-winning model for
authentic, insightful Indigenous tourism.
More than 130 Yolngu are directly employed or trained at
Garma each year.
Gulkula: the festival site
The festival site at Gulkula is approximately 40 kilometres
from the township of Nhulunbuy, and about 14 kilometres south
east of Gove airport. The Garma ceremonial ground is the focus
of the festival. Traditionally, funeral ceremonies have been
performed here. The ceremonial ground is at the centre of
the festival site and it is here that bunggul (ceremony) continues
to be performed late each afternoon during the Garma Festival.
Gulkula
has profound meaning for Yolngu. Set in a stringybark forest
with views to the Gulf of Carpentaria, it is where the ancestor
Ganbulapula brought the yidaki (didjeridu) into being among
the Gumatj people. Gulkula is an area with a range of significant
ancestral connections.
More information
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