Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures facts for kids
The Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures (Garma) is Australia's biggest gathering for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It happens for four days every August in a place called Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
The Yothu Yindi Foundation hosts Garma. It's a special celebration of the culture of the Yolngu people. It's also a big get-together for families and clans from the Arnhem Land area. The festival shows off traditional miny'tji (art), old stories, manikay (songs), and bunggul (dances).
Garma is held at Gulkula, which is a very important ceremonial site for the Gumatj people. It's about 40 kilometers from the town of Nhulunbuy. More than 2,500 people visit Garma each year, and tickets often sell out months ahead of time.
In recent years, Garma has become an important event for politicians. Leaders from business, politics, universities, and charities come to help make plans for Indigenous affairs through a meeting called the Key Forum.
History of Garma
The first Garma Festival was held in 1999. It was a very small event, almost like a backyard barbecue. Dhapanbal Yunupingu, whose father was Dr M Yunupingu, remembers it being tiny. She said her father and uncle stood on the Bunggul ground and said, "This is where the festival will be." She recalled there were only five non-Indigenous people, no tents, two cars, and a barbecue.
Garma in 2017
At Garma 2017, the Gumatj Corporation made some important agreements with the federal government and others. These included plans for a training center at Gulkula and a land agreement for Gunyangara. They also made a deal with Rio Tinto Alcan about selling bauxite (a type of rock) for the Gulkula Mine project. This was planned to be the first mining project owned and run by Indigenous people on their own land. They also talked about possibly hosting a rocket launch site.
Garma during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020–2021)
The Garma festival was cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The 2021 event was also cancelled. This was mainly due to a growing outbreak of COVID-19 in Victoria in May 2021. The Chief Health Officer of the Northern Territory decided that the festival's remote location in north-east Arnhem Land would be too risky if an outbreak happened.
Prime Minister Attends Garma 2022
At the 2022 Garma Festival, Anthony Albanese became the first Prime Minister of Australia to attend in five years. He had won the election earlier that year and promised to hold a vote (referendum) on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Because of this, he was welcomed with hope and excitement. Linda Burney, who is the Minister for Indigenous Australians, also attended, along with Pat Dodson.
Voice Referendum Announced at Garma 2023
At the 2023 Garma Festival, Anthony Albanese announced that the Voice referendum would be held later that year. Other politicians who attended included Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health Malarndirri McCarthy. The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Natasha Fyles, was also there. A cultural leader named Mayatili Marika gave the main speech. The leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, did not attend.
Garma 2024: "Fire, Strength, Renewal"
After the 2023 referendum did not pass, Prime Minister Albanese spoke about more practical ways to help Indigenous Australians economically. The new Indigenous Australians minister, NT Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, also attended. The festival's theme was "Fire, strength, renewal" (Gurtha-Wuma Worrk-gu). Djawa Yunupingu, who chairs the Yothu Yindi Foundation, said that even though the referendum failed, his people still looked to the future. He explained that after a fire, rain brings new growth to the land. No members of the Opposition attended the festival in 2024.
What Happens at Garma
The word garma comes from the Yolngu language. It refers to a special place for ceremonies. It can also mean a "two-way learning process" or "a public ceremony where fresh and saltwater meet."
The festival has three main goals:
- To provide ways for people to practice, keep, and share traditional knowledge and culture. This includes bunggul (traditional dance), Manikay (song), Miny'tji (art), and ceremonies.
- To share knowledge and culture, helping Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians understand each other better.
- To create economic chances for Yolngu people through education, training, jobs, businesses, and community development.
Bunggul: Traditional Dances
One of the most exciting parts of Garma is the nightly bunggul. These are traditional ceremonial dances performed every day from 4:00 pm until sunset. In these very important ceremonies, men, women, and children from the 13 Yolngu clan groups perform unique dances from northeast Arnhem Land.
During these performances, older Yolngu people share their stories through manikay (songs). They are joined by the sound of the yidaki (didgeridoo) and the rhythm of the bilma (clapsticks). In 2014, a magazine called The Monthly described the bunggul as "an exhilarating performance" and "one of the world’s oldest musical traditions."
Key Forum: Important Discussions
The Garma Key Forum lasts for three days. It has become a major place for discussing and debating issues and policies that affect Indigenous people. Political, business, academic, and charity leaders from Australia and other countries attend.
The topics change each year to match the Garma theme. However, subjects like Indigenous land rights, Indigenous health, education, economic development, and government funding are often part of the program.
Gapan Gallery: Outdoor Art
The Gapan Gallery is an outdoor art space. It is set among stringy-bark trees next to the bunggul grounds. It shows special artworks from local and regional art centers. Some art centers that have been featured include Buku-Larrnggay, Bula'Bula Arts, Elcho Island Arts, and Ngukkur Arts Centre.
Cultural Workshops: Hands-On Learning
Senior Yolngu men and women lead cultural workshops. These workshops give guests a chance to experience life in the bush. Workshops include learning the local Yolngu Matha language, kinship lessons (about family connections), 'Learning on Country' walks, spear-making, and basket-weaving.
Youth Forum: For Young People
The Garma Youth Forum has a four-day program for children and young people aged 8–18. It includes an Education Fair on the first day. Schools from all over Australia join with students from local schools for many activities and workshops. These activities aim to build connections between cultures and share knowledge. There is also a strong focus on helping young people develop leadership skills. In recent years, participants from the Youth Forum have even led the closing session of the Key Forum. They share what they learned and their hopes for the future.
Music at Garma
Music has always been a big part of the Garma program. It showcases the special sound of Arnhem Land and provides a stage for new and established bands and singers from the Top End. Popular bands like Bärra West Wind, Sunrize Band, Eylandt Band, Mambali Band, Garrangali Band, Wirrinyga Band, and Wildwater often perform.
Yiḏaki Masterclass
Djalu Gurruwiwi taught the first Yiḏaki Masterclass at the very first Garma Festival in 1999. He has continued to teach all the Yiḏaki Masterclasses since then.
The Gulkula Site
Garma is held at Gulkula, a very important Gumatj ceremonial site. It is in northeast Arnhem Land, in a stringy-bark forest on top of a hill overlooking the Gulf of Carpentaria. The trees on this hill at Gulkula are mostly a type of stringybark called Eucalyptus tetradonta. In Yolngu culture, these grey stringy-bark trees have many names, and one special name is "Gadayka."
In August, the Gadayka trees are in flower, and small native bees turn the nectar into honey. Gulkula is connected to the stories of a Yolngu ancestor named Ganbulapula. In his search for honey, Ganbulapula used his walking stick to hit the trees and disturb the bees. He would shield his eyes from the sun and look up to see the tiny black bees flying around their hive in a hollow tree. This story connects honey, the actions of ancestors, people, and the land and sea across northeast Arnhem Land. The importance of bees and honey is shown in sacred designs that are part of the cultural knowledge about honey.
Old Rocket Tracking Site
In 1964, many trees at Gulkula were bulldozed and burned by the Department of Works. This was to build the Gove Down Range Guidance and Telemetry Station. At that time, the Yolngu owners had no legal rights in Australian law. They could not stop the European Launcher Development Organisation from putting a rocket tracking station on their ceremonial site. The station's job was to track rockets launched from Woomera in South Australia. Its advanced technology was operated mainly by Belgian scientists.
In September 2020, the original twenty-tonne satellite tracker was returned to the Gove Peninsula. It had been stored at Woomera for many years. It is now being restored and will be displayed at the Arnhemland Historical Society's headquarters at Gove Airport.
New Rocket Launch Site
In 2017, the Yolngu landowners were asked about building a new space facility. This was done under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976. In 2017, the Gumatj clan, through the Northern Land Council, approved a lease for the Gumatj Corporation. This was so they could operate a sub-orbital rocket launch pad. This was a first not just for the Yolngu people but for Australia.
The planned site covers 65 hectares. By 2019, the Gumatj people had leased it to Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA). ELA will rent out the Gulkula Launch Site to space organizations like NASA. In May 2019, NASA announced it planned to sign a contract with ELA and launch four rockets in 2020. NASA sees this site as a good change from its previous preferred launch site in Australia at Woomera, which it had not used since 1995. Having a deep-water port nearby is a benefit, as it makes transporting rockets and their parts cheaper than moving them by road across the desert. In July 2019, scientists from NASA visited the site. The Northern Territory Government and ELA funded their visit. This facility is seen as a huge chance to boost the region's economy, providing jobs and paths for young people studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
