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Garma Festival,
Friday 3 to Tuesday 7 August 2007
[DAY 1] [DAY 2] [DAY 3] [DAY 4] [DAY 5]
Day 4, Monday 6 August
 Festival activities continued and the residents of Nhulunbuy were welcomed to the open day.
The sold-out Cultural Tourism program had special men’s and women’s activities and an offsite visit to Cape Arnhem. The women tried their hand at gathering bush honey and also finishing their weaving projects. The men went to the beach to test their spear-throwing techniques. There was also a session at the Women’s Healing Place on traditional medicines.
[Reminder: donations for the Healing Place can be made at www.healingplace.com.au]
Other festival activities continued with participants keen to make the most of their final opportunities at the Yidaki Masterclass. Participants in the Contemporary Music Training Project practised their instruments. Multimedia students finalised their filming for their documentary project.
Key Forum
The final day of the Garma Key Forum continued the Garma inspiration of two-way learning. The focus of today’s discussion was on social and emotional health and well-being. Indigenous and non-Indigenous speakers gave moving, passionate and positive addresses over a range of issues including men’s health, highlighting the social factors that lead to poor health, health through cultural restoration and does control follow the dollar?
Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner told the gathering that Indigenous people in remote areas had lower social and emotional health difficulties than those people who had been removed from their country. He said the current political situation for Indigenous people in the Northern Territory raised basic human rights issues.
The men’s health discussion heard that some government policies were in place for women and children, but that men were being ignored. Indigenous men, across the board, were being described as violent and sexual offenders. There were, however, detailed reports of positive initiatives that were coming from the grass roots level, including the Men’s Shed program.
Those attending the forum were encouraged to return to their families and workplaces and make a difference, not simply return to their lives with a warm feeling; that improvements to Indigenous life was about restoring what had been taken away with European settlement. People were asked to consider the facts being presented to them by politicians and the media. They were asked to consider what kind of Australia they wanted and to continue to work until it was achieved.
Live Performances
A highlight of the day was the band performances after the nightly bunggul. Bands performed on the main stage for more than 2000 people from the festival and nearby communities. The line-up was Kalkaringi, Galangarri, Gathalala, Groote Eylandt, NAISDA, Freedom Road, Telek and Miriam.
The climax was a set by Yothu Yindi, including crowd favourites One Blood, My Kind of Life, Tribal Voice and Treaty.
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