Garma Festival

After 23 years of single-party rule, Australia’s Northern Territory has today undergone a change of government. In her new capacity as Chief Minister elect, Clare Martin visited Gulkula this morning to address the opening session of the Ngaarra’ Legal Forum. It was a thrilling result also for Gumatj leader and Northern Land Council Chair, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, who welcomed a NT Assembly leader whose cabinet is to include four Indigenous Australians, and whose party today made a commitment to recognise the rights of Indigenous peoples. The mutual goodwill behind this commitment was today displayed when Galarrwuy and Martin signed an agreement to repeal the NT’s current mandatory sentencing laws.

After this auspicious beginning, the rest of the day’s deliberations included addresses from Banambi Wunungmurra (Chair, Miwatj Aboriginal Legal Service Council), the Hon. Chief Justice M E J Black AC (Federal Court of Australia), Mr Rex Wild QC (Director of Public Prosecutions, NT) and Prof Nancy Williams (University of Queensland). Discussions gravitated toward models for recognising the coexistence and parallel jurisdiction of Crown and Indigenous Australian systems of law.

Tonight’s bunggul

Mandawuy gave the commentary on the bunggul again tonight. The first performance was from the people of Yilpara and Gurrumuru communities, the Madarrpa and Dhalwangu people. Mandawuy pointed out that their bunggul being the grandmother of the Gumatj people, was based on the same themes as the Gumatj bunggul last night, but this time with different images woven in. For example the spirits gathered around the log coffin tonight were crying for the spear broken in the makarrata peace making ceremony. This dance cemented the work of negotiation done during the day – with the new chief minister of the Northern Territory, Clare Martin, and with the lawyers gathered for the Ngaarra. In the makarrata ceremony, past wrongs are righted ceremonially, the aggrieved singing and dancing their strengthening totems, and throwing spears at the guilty party until he is speared in the leg, or the last spear is finally broken and the spearhead thrust through his thigh. The Madarrpa and Dhalwangu people cried for the spear which drew the blood to make peace.

Later the Gumatj yothu yindi (that is the Gumatj people, and those who call them mother, and whom they call mother) danced for the crowd. Again it was the same themes as we saw last night, but this time it was set on the beach. Djalu, the teacher of the yidaki master class, danced the hunter looking for the kangaroo. As the hunter uses his skills to capture the kangaroo, the Yolngu are hunting the lawyers, using all their skills to achieve their aims. The kangaroo will not be killed today but will die tomorrow. Once again the women’s blood from their grief spreads into the sky to make the sunset, and as darkness falls, the spider spins its web which turns into the mist which wraps itself around the escarpment and through the stringybark forest.

Yidaki masterclass

Today the masterclass started with work on the relation between the pronunciation of Yolngu languages, and the tongue positions used in playing the didgeridoo. Dr Michael Christie from Northern Territory University gave a short talk and then translated for Djalu who explained the way the tongue moves pushing and holding the air in the mouth, responding to the pressure of the diaphragm. He used the image of the dancer moving around the garma site using his imagination to recreate his ancestral history through dance. The mind controls the movement of the tongue and works with the air to create the subtle changes which gives each player his own individual style. Your yidaki has no buttons. The buttons are inside your diaphragm. Djalu pointed out that Yolngu get their style from their ancestral songs and their themes and meanings, but the other players from around the world get their inspiration straight from the instrument itself. In the Yolngu world the bilma (clapsticks) and the yidaki together provide the two lines which give yolngu their spirit.

NORFORCE – supporting GARMA

NORFORCE relies on the various communities across the NT and Kimberley for their support in order to achieve our operational mission of conducting surveillance against national threats. NORFORCE recruits from the communities, operates on their land and relies on them for information in times of threat. Hence, NORFORCE is happy to support the various community festivals.

GARMA provides a fantastic forum for exchanging ideas on a wide range of cultural issues that confront Australians. NORFORCE deals with many of these issues on a daily basis so having the chance to listen and learn from a wide cross section of both Yolgnu and white Australians is a valuable opportunity. NORFORCE is proud to be associated with GARMA and we will continue to support initiatives to bring Australians together.

Video production workshops

Throughout the festival, students from Yirrkala CEC are working with filmmakers Cath McKay and Rob E Hoad to learn the art of digital video production. The students have been filming the activities at the school, at Gulkula, and at Yirrnga - the Yothu Yindi music development studio. The video course aims to give young people in the community the skills to document the festival through Yolngu eyes in Yolngu language.

Bush Medicine Workshops