The Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures (Garma) is Australia's largest
Indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
cultural gathering, taking place over four days each August in northeast
Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...
, in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
, Australia. Hosted by the
Yothu Yindi Foundation
Yothu Yindi ( Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced ) are an Australian musical group with Aboriginal and '' balanda'' (non-Aboriginal) members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a white rock group called the Swam ...
, Garma is a celebration of the cultural traditions of the
Yolngu people, and a major community gathering for the clans and families of the Arnhem Land region. The event showcases traditional ''miny'tji'' (art), ancient story-telling,
manikay
Indigenous music of Australia comprises the music of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, intersecting with their cultural and ceremonial observances, through the millennia of their individual and collective historie ...
(song), and
bunggul (dance). It is held at
Gulkula
The Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures (Garma) is Australia's largest Indigenous Australians, Indigenous cultural gathering, taking place over four days each August in northeast Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory, Australia. Hosted by the ...
, a significant
Gumatj ceremonial site about from the township of
Nhulunbuy
Nhulunbuy () is a township that is the sixth largest population centre in the Northern Territory of Australia. Nhulunbuy was created on the Gove Peninsula in north-east Arnhem Land when a bauxite mine and a deep water port were established ...
, attracts more than 2500 guests each year and is often sold out months in advance.
In recent years, Garma has become an important fixture on the political calendar, attracting business, political, academic, and philanthropic leaders to help shape Indigenous affairs policy through the Key Forum conference. It is run during the
Darwin Festival
The Darwin Festival, founded as the Bougainvillea Festival in 1979 and named Festival of Darwin from 1996 to 2002, is an annual arts festival in Darwin, Northern Territory. It celebrates the multicultural aspects of the Northern Territory lifest ...
.
History
The first Garma was held in 1999 and was little more than a backyard barbecue. Dhapanbal Yunupingu, the daughter of
Dr M Yunupingu, said the first event was a small-scale affair. "I remember when Galarrwuy and dad brought us here, and they were standing on the Bunggul ground, and they said: This is the Garma site, this is where the festival is going to be.' We were only little. Dad picked his camp. My uncles picked their camp. There were five white fellas who came. There were no tents, two cars, and a BBQ. Our chef slept next to the back of the
ute
Ute or UTE may refer to:
* Ute (band), an Australian jazz group
* Ute (given name)
* ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus
* Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles
* Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...
in a
swag".
2017
At Garma 2017, the Gumatj Corporation entered into several historic agreements with the
federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
and other parties. These included plans for the Gulkula Regional Training Centre, a township lease agreement for
Gunyangara
The Gove Peninsula is at the northeastern corner of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The peninsula became strategically important during World War II when a Royal Australian Air Force base was constructed at what is now Go ...
, and an agreement with
Rio Tinto Alcan
Rio Tinto Alcan is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, based in Montreal. It was created on 15 November 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto's Canadian subsidiary and Canadian company Alcan.
It is the global leader of aluminium mining and p ...
on
bauxite
Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(O ...
sales for the Gulkula Mine project. This would be the first Indigenous-owned and -operated mining venture on
traditional owner
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
land. In addition, the Corporation discussed the potential hosting of a rocket launch site (see below).
COVID-19 impact
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
the Garma festival was cancelled in 2020. The 2021 event was also cancelled, largely due to COVID-19
developments in Victoria, being a growing outbreak in late May. The NT Chief Health Officer decided the remoteness of the north-east
Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...
location of the festival posed a public health risk if an outbreak occurred.
Features
Garma is run during the
Darwin Festival
The Darwin Festival, founded as the Bougainvillea Festival in 1979 and named Festival of Darwin from 1996 to 2002, is an annual arts festival in Darwin, Northern Territory. It celebrates the multicultural aspects of the Northern Territory lifest ...
, which takes place over about 18 days each year in August.
The word ''garma'' is a
Yolngu word meaning "two-way learning process".
The festival has three main aims:
* To provide contemporary environments and programs for the practice, preservation, maintenance and presentation of
traditional knowledge
Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Organ ...
systems and cultural traditions and practices, especially bunggul (traditional dance), Manikay (song), Miny' tji (art) and ceremony.
* To share knowledge and culture, thereby fostering greater understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
* To develop economic opportunities for Yolngu through education, training, employment, enterprise and remote Indigenous community development.
Bunggul
One of Garma's main highlights is the nightly
bunggul - traditional ceremonial dances performed each day from 4:00pm until sunset. In these highly significant
ceremonies
A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion.
The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''.
Church and civil (secular) ...
, men, women and children from the 13 Yolngu clan groups perform a dance unique to northeast Arnhem Land. During these performances, the senior holders of the Yolngu
songline
A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia which mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dre ...
s share with guests their stories of manikay (song), accompanied by the call of the yidaki (
didgeridoo
The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...
) and the rhythm of the bilma (
clapsticks
Clapsticks, also spelt clap sticks and also known as bilma, bimli, clappers, musicstick or just stick, are a traditional Australian Aboriginal instrument. They serve to maintain rhythm in voice chants, often as part of an Aboriginal ceremony ...
). In 2014, ''
The Monthly
''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...
s "Best of Australian Arts" edition described the bunggul as "an exhilarating performance" and "an example of one of the world’s oldest musical traditions. We must do everything to recognise its enormous value to our lives as Australians".
Key Forum
Held over three days, the Garma Key Forum has become an important platform for the discussion and debate of Indigenous issues and policy, attracting political, business, academic, and philanthropic leaders from Australia and overseas. It is an important political event for this reason.
Although the conference agenda changes from year to year to reflect the Garma theme, topics such as
Indigenous land rights
Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenou ...
,
Indigenous health, education, economic development and government funding are regularly part of the program.
Gapan Gallery
Set in a grove of stringy-bark trees adjacent to the bunggul grounds, the open-air Gapan Gallery features limited edition artworks from a range of local and regional arts centres. Arts centres featured at recent Garma events include
Buku-Larrnggay
Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. Its population comprises predominantly Aboriginal Australians of the ...
, Bula’bula Arts,
Elcho Island Arts and Ngukkur Arts Centre.
Cultural Workshops
Senior Yolngu men and women provide a series of cultural workshops which provide guests with an immersive experience in an authentic bush setting. Workshops include instruction in the local Yolngu Matha language, kinship lessons, 'Learning on Country' walks, spear-making, and basket-weaving.
Youth Forum
The Garma Youth Forum runs a 4-day program for children and youth aged 8–18, including an Education Fair on the first day of the event. Schools from across Australia join with students from local and regional schools for a range of activities and workshops aimed at building cross-cultural bonds and sharing knowledge. There's also a strong emphasis on developing leadership skills for the next generation, and in recent years, participants from the Youth Forum have led the closing Key Forum session, sharing the lessons they have learned over the course of the 4 days and their hopes and dreams for the future.
Music
Music has always been a major feature of the Garma program, showcasing the distinctive Arnhem Land sound and providing a platform for new and emerging regional acts as well as more established Top End bands and singers. Crowd favourites such as
Bärra West Wind, Sunrize Band (
Maningrida
Maningrida, also known as Manayingkarírra and Manawukan, is an Aboriginal community in the heart of the Arnhem Land region of Australia's Northern Territory. Maningrida is east of Darwin, and north east of Jabiru. It is on the North Central ...
), Eylandt Band (
Groote Eylandt
Groote Eylandt ( Anindilyakwa: ''Ayangkidarrba'' meaning "island" ) is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia. It was named by the explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and is Dutch for "Large Island" in ...
), Mambali Band (
Numbulwar
Numbulwar, formerly known as Rose River Mission,https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=22449 is a small, primarily Aboriginal community on the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory of Australia. The major language group of ...
),
Garrangali Band
The Garrangali Band, also known as Garrangali, is an Aboriginal Australian musical group from the tiny homeland community, or outstation, of Baniyala in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Garrangali means "home of the cr ...
(
Baniyala
Bäniyala is a tiny community of Aboriginal Australian people, known as a homeland, situated on Blue Mud Bay in the Gulf of Carpentaria in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, located from Nhulunbuy. It is home to about 150 Y ...
), Wirrinyga Band (
Milingimbi
Milingimbi Island, also Yurruwi, is the largest island of the Crocodile Islands group off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.
Location
Milingimbi lies approximately east of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and west of N ...
) and Wildwater (
Maningrida
Maningrida, also known as Manayingkarírra and Manawukan, is an Aboriginal community in the heart of the Arnhem Land region of Australia's Northern Territory. Maningrida is east of Darwin, and north east of Jabiru. It is on the North Central ...
), all regularly feature on the bill.
Yiḏaki Masterclass
Djalu Gurruwiwi
Djalu Gurruwiwi, also written Djalu ( – 12 May 2022), was a Yolngu man from Arnhem Land in northern Australia, known worldwide for his skill as a player, maker and spiritual keeper of the yiḏaki (didgeridoo). He was also a respected arti ...
delivered the first Yiḏaki Masterclass at the inaugural Garma Festival in 1999, and has delivered all subsequent Yiḏaki Masterclasses since.
The Gulkula site
Garma is held at Gulkula, a significant Gumatj
ceremonial
A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion.
The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin ''Glossary of ancient Rom ...
site in northeast Arnhem Land, in a stringy-bark forest atop an
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
overlooking the
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...
. The trees on the escarpment at Gulkula are mainly of one species of
stringybark known as ''
Eucalyptus tetradonta''. In Yolngu culture the grey stringy-barks have many names, and one Dhuwa
moiety
Moiety may refer to:
Chemistry
* Moiety (chemistry), a part or functional group of a molecule
** Moiety conservation, conservation of a subgroup in a chemical species
Anthropology
* Moiety (kinship), either of two groups into which a society is ...
name is "Gadayka".
In August, Gadayka is in flower and small native bees turn nectar into honey. Gulkula is connected with the actions of a Yolngu ancestor, Ganbulapula. In his search for honey, Ganbulapula used his walking stick to hit the trees and so disturb the bees. With his hand shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked up, Ganbulapula could see the tiny black bees hovering around their hive in the hollow of a tree; he looked upwards to trace the flight of bees. A link is established through honey and the actions of both the Yirritja and Dhuwa moiety ancestors, with people and land and sea-country across northeast Arnhem Land. The significance of bees and honey is manifested in sacred designs that identify the body of cultural knowledge associated with honey.
Rocket tracking site
In 1964, many of the trees on the escarpment at Gulkula were bulldozed and then burnt by the Department of Works so the Gove
Down Range Guidance and Telemetry Station could be built. At the time, the Yolngu owners had no rights in Australian law, and they were powerless to prevent the
European Launcher Development Organisation
250px, Europa II
200px, Rolls-Royce''RZ-12''
200px, ''Coralie''
200px, ''Astris''
The European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) is a former European space research organisation. It was first developed in order to establish a satelli ...
from installing a rocket tracking station on the ceremonial site. The purpose of the station was to track the path of
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
s launched from
Woomera in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, and its state-of-the-art technology was operated by mainly
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
scientists.
In September 2020, the original twenty-tonne satellite tracker, which had been stored at Woomera for decades, was returned to the Gove Peninsula, to be restored and put on display at the Gove Airport headquarters of the Arnhemland Historical Society.
[
]
Rocket launch site
In 2017, thanks to the ''Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976
The ''Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976'' (ALRA) is Australian federal government legislation that provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on traditi ...
'', the Yolngu landowners were consulted on the possible construction of a new space facility. In 2017, the Gumatj clan, through the Northern Land Council
The Northern Land Council (NLC) is a land council representing the Aboriginal peoples of the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia, with its head office in Darwin.
While the NLC was established in 1974, its origins began in the strugg ...
, approved a lease to the Gumatj Corporation for the purposes of operating a sub-orbital rocket launch pad, a first not just for Yolngu but for Australia.[
The proposed site covers , and had by 2019 been sub-leased to Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) by the Gumatj people. ELA will hire out Gulkula Launch Site to ]aeronautical
Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...
organisations such as NASA.[ In May 2019, NASA announced its intention to sign a contract with ELA, and launch four rockets in 2020. The site is seen by NASA as a move from its previous preferred site for rocket launches in Australia at Woomera, which it has not used since 1995. The proximity of a deep-water port is seen as an advantage, reducing the cost of transporting rockets and payloads, compared with road transport across the ]desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
. In July 2019, scientists from NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
visited the site, funded by the Northern Territory Government
The Government of the Northern Territory of Australia, also referred to as the Northern Territory Government, is the Australian territorial democratic administrative authority of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory wa ...
and ELA. The facility is seen as a huge opportunity to boost the economy of the region, providing jobs and pathways for STEM
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
graduates.
References
External links
*
'The karma of Garma', abc story 2005
{{Culture of Oceania, state=autocollapse
Festivals in the Northern Territory
Arts festivals in Australia
Organisations serving Indigenous Australians
Yolngu