The children laugh as they participate in important cultural practices across the grounds of Garma in the Northern Territory. Each evening Yolngu young people dance in the sand of the bunggul grounds alongside adults and elders of their clans. Indeed, as the Yidaki (didgeridoo), bilma (clapping sticks) and voices of the songmen rang out over the largest Indigenous cultural gathering in the country earlier this month, it was the smallest dancers who often stole the show.
The evening bunggul is a sharing of stories and knowledge connected to the land and sea Country of each clan. The children are watching, learning and practising their birthright - a strong and vibrant Yolngu culture - that has been passed down for countless generations. This is the heart of Garma, the sharing of knowledge and culture, from Elders to young people, from Yolngu to balanda (non-Indigenous), from Arnhem Land to the world.
Starting in 1999 as a community gathering, the Garma Festival attracts thousands of visitors to Gulkula, which is a special place for Gumatj people, each year. The 2024 Garma theme - Gurtha-Wuma Worrk-gu: Fire, Strength and Renewal - focussed on young people, passing down the fire, and calling on them to be future leaders. It also spoke to the defeat of the 2023 referendum to establish an Indigenous voice to parliament.
Just as fire brings regeneration to Country, making way for the new, for Yolngu people the metaphorical fire of that defeat brings strength and renewal, Yothu Yind.