Bush Medicine: Treatment session

Around 40 Garma women attended the treatment session today. The Yolngu Women were working on general health healing which included healing everything from bad backs to broken limbs. The plants collect on Day 2 of the Festival were used in the process.

First off all the Butjirinanin leaves were torn up by hand and soaked in water until the water became thick with natural oils.

Next the stringy Bark wash smashed with rocks and also immersed in water.

While the leaves and bark were being prepared the women dug a shallow hole in the ground about the length of a body. Branches and the pandanas seed pods were placed in the hole and lit on fire.

After the fire had burned down and the ashes were left, the women placed the soaking bark and leaves, water reeds and some long strips of Paper bark onto the ashes.

The healing process began.

Anyone with aches and pains were asked to lie down on the paper bark and the Yolngu women rubbed the remainder of leaves and reeds across there bodies while massaging the therapeutic mixture into their skin.

The Yolngu women not only spoke about the healing qualities of the natural oils but also about the healing of the spirit through the ancestors of this land.

The entire process was amazing and it was an honor to take part in such an ancient healing process.

Djakamirri Wangawu Forum

The Garma Forum on Indigenous people and the environment finished today. A number of statements were produced in response to the issues discussed. These included a general statement in relation to the forum themes and statements adressing:

• Sustainable Tourism
• Mining
• Environment
• Youth Issues and Performance.

Feedback

As a storyteller and educator participant in the Music symposium and Garma I have been privileged to be here on the Yolngu land and experience the deeply interconnected culture and cosmology. Small fragments will gleam into significance. I hope I can contribute a small amount of what I have gained to Yolngu.

Caroline Josephs
PhD Student UWS

Youth Issues Forum

Around 50 students from the Yuendumu, Tjukurla, Yirrakala and Groote Island Primary schools attended the Forum at Garma today.

The students were asked to discuss both the positive negatives things that happen in their communities. The students from around the Northern Territory and Western Australia were asked a number of questions, and in groups of eight they selected a spokesperson to give their response.

Questions included:

• What are some of the positive things happening in your community?
• Who are the people that make these things possible?
• What are some of the things that are not so good at the moment?
• Why aren't these things good?
• How could you or other people in the community help to overcome the problems?

The forum covered issues from sport and music classes to hunting and fishing with their elders and finally to the lack of employment opportunities for and domestic violence around the communities.

Overall the students wanted to see more money from the community and government going into sporting events, discos and music classes for the kids. They thought that with more things to do fewer people would turn to drugs and alcohol. They thought that through doing odd jobs like cleaning cars etc after school they could help to save money to put on more events for their communities.

After the forum all the students came together in a circle to say thank-you to everyone who participated and there were smiles all round.