What it means to be at Garma in 2024

Claire Robbs reflects on her experience following the 2024 Garma Festival. The below story is written in her own words.

This year, at the invitation of Reconciliation Australia, I attended the Garma Festival held between August 2nd and 5th.

Garma is an annual festival that takes place in North East Arnhem land, on the traditional lands of the Yolngu people – a generous, kind, spiritual people deeply connected to their culture.

When you arrive into Nhulunbuy, you are in a remote community loved and nurtured by the traditional owners for time immemorial.

Garma has been running for nearly two decades and it meets its promise of being a genuine celebration of Yolngu people, their customs, practices, art, storying telling, and dance. It has been ten years since I last attended, and the festival was even more powerful than I remembered.

In 2024, this gathering means something unique. Over a few days I listened to Elders and Aboriginal leaders speak not so much of the past, but of the future, and what can be if we choose unity over division.

In his opening address, Chair of the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Mr Djawa Yunupingu, spoke of the hands of First Nations people extended with an ongoing invitation for friendship and unity. He spoke of Aboriginal lore and how one failed vote doesn’t change its existence, relevance, and importance.

For the many of us who advocated for the Voice to Parliament, the rejection of such a simple request remains in stark contrast to the ongoing generous spirit that continues in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The clear call now is to move forward, to continue towards Makarrata, and to bring the voice of First Nations people into all aspects of our lives and workplaces.

“To keep our promise and to put fire in the bright minds of the children.” Mr Djawa Yunuping.

Garma allowed the chance to see kinship between members of the local community, families gathering together and caring for one another, whilst our news feeds are dominated by poor progress on Closing the Gap targets and heart-breaking volumes of children in care and in the justice system.

Mothers, fathers, cousins, sisters, and children are in such closeness in this community, which is truly a life changing thing to see. It is like peering into thousands of years of history to see the Aboriginal way of life that is so very community focused.

Spending time with brilliant women cultivated by Karen Mundine and the Reconciliation Australia team was special beyond words.

There was a vibrant energy in being amongst people with a shared vision and belief in Reconciliation and how we need to get there.

At Life Without Barriers, our relationship with Reconciliation Australia is deep and special. Our Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) has pushed us to do more than we thought we could. Our Transformation project and partnership with SNAICC - National Voice for our Children has been made possible because of the structure and accountability of the RAP program and Karen’s belief in what we could achieve. Standing together with Karen and Melinda Cilento at Garma is an experience I am grateful for.

Board member of Life Without Barriers, Dr Elizabeth McEntyre, joined Garma for the first time this year and I am so grateful to her for her leadership, wisdom and her sense of instilling community amongst our leaders.

Our Board backed our support of the Voice to Parliament all the way and I know what this meant for our teams. A supportive Board is not just a gift to a CEO, it is a gift to all members of our workforce.

We left Garma and the lands of the Yolngu people with fire for the future, an even greater resolve of our responsibility and our choices to bring Reconciliation into the heart of who we are as an organisation.

I believe our fire can be infectious, and that our choice for unity will become so powerful, no one will want to be left behind.