As the 25th Garma wrapped up, international visitors shared their reflections, culture and gratitude for being invited to Australia for the festival.
The Garma Festival at Gulkula in the Northern Territory attracts thousands of people to one of Australia’s most remote regions each year.
The local Yolngu culture is front and centre, with art, music, and bunggul (ceremonial dance) all showcased during the four-day festival.
But in its 25th year, some guests had travelled further than most to share their culture and customs and exchange knowledge in the festival’s red dirt.
Garma’s 2025 theme, “rom ga waŋa wataŋu”, or “the law of the land, standing firm”, pays homage to those who started the event.
Yothu Yindi Foundation chief executive Denise Bowden said the 2025 Garma theme also reflected the Yolngu fight for empowerment and land rights.
“This year is a real acknowledgement and a proper nod to the Yunupingu brothers who had some pretty large ideas for the Garma Festival,” she said.
“Many of us had some catching up to do when we realised what they had created because now it’s a nationally iconic event attracting 3500 people each year to a very remote location.”
Representatives from the Navajo, Comanche, Kiowa, Sioux, Pueblo and Lakota nations travelled from North America to share their culture with festival-goers, with members of the group performing at the nightly bunggul.
During a panel discussion on Sunday, Lakota and Navajo man Seneca Holy Cloud Martin said he was honoured to be able to share his culture, particularly with the youngest festival attendees.
“When I was dressed up in my regalia, in my garment, I had these little boys come up to me and asking me, what is this,” he said.
“It’s always nice to have that feeling of kids being curious and wondering.”
A delegation of dignitaries from the Pacific exchanged gifts with local Yolgnu leaders and shared their reflections on similarities in their cultures.
Member for North Bougainville Open and Assistant Speaker in the Papua New Guinea Parliament, Francesca Rianna Semoso, reflected on the children who danced in the bunggul, saying the tradition inspired her to pass down culture and dance to her grandchildren.
Economic partnership
On Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used his address at the Garma Festival to unveil an economic partnership with the Coalition of Peaks and First Nations Economic Empowerment Alliance.
“This builds on our commitment to the Closing the Gap Agreement, to its call for a new way of doing business and to the principle of shared decision-making,” he told the audience.
The approach will allow traditional owners to advocate for infrastructure, housing and energy projects on their land and build equity beyond the land itself.
Coalition of Peaks lead convener Pat Turner said the partnership was about putting Indigenous communities in control of their economic future.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been clear for decades that our community-controlled organisations are the best employers of our people, providing the foundation for our economic development,” she said.
Addressing the crowd at Garma, Yolngu leader and chair of the Yothu Yindi Foundation Djawa Yunupingu said he wanted a real economy for his people.
“We intend to use our lands and waters for our own future and the future of our children, and the future of our nation,” he said.
Albanese also announced $70 million for Indigenous clean energy projects, $31 million for a mobile TAFE program and $75 million for native title reform under the partnership.
National Native Title Council chief executive Jamie Lowe said this funding showed the government was serious about supporting traditional owners.
“Investing in the native title sector is game-changing,” he said.
“This injection of capacity will mean more jobs, more opportunities for young people and stronger protection for our cultural heritage.”
While some organisations praised Albanese’s announcement, Aunty Glendra Stubbs, the elder in residence at community legal centre Knowmore, was disappointed in a lack of any mention of truth-telling.
The government backed away from its commitment to Makarrata in 2024 and though Albanese acknowledged the work of the Victorian truth-telling inquiry Yoorrook, he did not mention a national process in his address.
Aunty Glendra said it hurt to see truth-telling missing from the conversation.
“Our people have been asking for this for generations,” she said.
“Without truth, the pain of colonisation remains open – generation after generation.
“We can’t heal what we won’t name.”
-AAP
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