Another year of Garma has come and gone and the city of tents once again packed away with their coating of red dust significantly forever upon them.
Feng Huang and Margot Wall who managed the Flinders NT booth, promoted studying medicine in the NT and engaged with visitors through fun games and activities. Third-year Flinders NT Medical Program student Teagan Short kept the crowd tested with a challenge to see who could beat her 25 second “return of the organs”, with her record safe until the Year 10 Nhulunbuy High students arrived!
Many forums were held throughout the festival reflecting a true story-telling from the traditional people of the land, and a spotlight on pathways to a better future for Indigenous Australians.
The evenings’ music, starting with the calling of the yidaki (didgeridoo) and the bilma (clapsticks), joined with the voices of the Yolngu, and was heard throughout the Gulkula site drawing you to the centre of celebrations and the Bunggul dancing.
The Garma Festival is an annual festival of Yolngu culture held by the Yothu Yindi Foundation in North-East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. The festival, now in it’s 21st year attracts an exclusive gathering of 2,500 political and business leaders from across Australia.