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Barunga community on show for 28th annual festival

15 June 2013
Community Barunga
Culture and Capability

More than 3000 people travelled to the remote Northern Territory community of Barunga over the June long-weekend for the 2013 Barunga Sports and Cultural Festival.

More than 3000 people travelled to the remote Northern Territory community of Barunga over the June long-weekend for the 2013 Barunga Sports and Cultural Festival.

The event received support from the Australian Government’s Stronger Futures initiative.

Every year the community welcomes Australian travellers, international tourists and extended family from other communities to experience local Indigenous culture.

Visitors took part in Kriol lessons, listened to performances from John Butler and Gurrumul Yunupingu, tried out spear throwing, watched traditional dancing and cheered on community teams competing in sports that included football and basketball.

Festival stalls also showcased local art, community initiatives, and some of the ways the Australian Government is working with community members and local service providers to help build a stronger future for Barunga.

“I’m so proud of my community because even though we have a population of just 350, we’re a small community, but big things are happening,” Barunga community member Anita Painter said.

“This festival, it’s making a name for our community. It’s making us proud of who we are.”

This year’s festival also marked the 25th anniversary of the Barunga Statement.

In 1998, the then Prime Minister Bob Hawke attended the Barunga Festival and met with thousands of Aboriginal people from around the Northern Territory. He was presented with a statement calling for Indigenous rights and a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. The event inspired the Yothu Yindi song, Treaty.

“Bob Hawke’s very last act as Prime Minister was to hang the Barunga Statement in Parliament House and very proudly, I was with him when he did it,” Minister for Indigenous Health Warren Snowden said, speaking at the festival opening.

“As we contemplate the past 25 years, [let us] remember that great man who died last week and who was stimulated to write Treaty as a result of the Barunga Festival and the Barunga Statement, a really, very important, seminal event.”

Find out more

Through Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory, the Australian Government is working with Northern Territory communities like Barunga to help people build independent lives where communities, families and children are safe and healthy.