HISTORY OF THE BARUNGA FESTIVAL

The first Barunga Festival was in 1985, and was the inspiration of the late Bangardi Lee who was then Town Clerk of the community.

The Barunga Festival has developed into one of the most significant celebrations of Aboriginal culture, art, music and sport in the Top End and connects Aboriginal communities from across the Northern Territory including the Katherine region, east Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands in the north, Central Australia in the south and the Kimberley in Western Australia.

The Barunga Festival is famous for its sport, music and art competitions as well the celebration and practice of cultural performance, arts & crafts, bush foods and the very popular story-telling activity. 

The Festival is also used to promote healthy lifestyle messages ranging from anti-substance abuse to road safety.

The Barunga Festival is 100% alcohol free. Police have the power to seize vehicles that are found bringing alcohol in to the prescribed area.

The Barunga Festival has been seen as an important landmark in Aboriginal affairs in the Northern Territory, and has regularly hosted and welcomed local and national politicians. 

In 1988, the then Prime Minister Bob Hawke attended the Barunga Festival, and was presented with a statement on Aboriginal Self-Determination that became known as the Barunga Statement.

In 1988 a group of men gathered together to address issues of Aboriginal culture and politics.  Among the leaders present were Galarrwuy Yunupingu, (then chairman of the Northern Land Council), Bangardi Lee, Wenton Rubuntja (who passed away in 2005), Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Gerry Hand.

On June 12th 1988, the same year that Australia was celebrating 200 years of colonisation, the Barunga Statement was presented to Prime Minister Hawke at the Festival. 

The Barunga Statement calls for Aboriginal self-management, a national system of land rights, compensation for loss of lands, respect for Aboriginal identity, an end to discrimination and the granting of full civil, economic, social and cultural rights for Indigenous Australians.

The Barunga Statement itself was the product of several years of negotiations between Galarrwuy and other Aboriginal leaders across Australia.

Taking inspiration from the Yirrkala Bark Petition created 20 years earlier, the Statement took the form of a typed set of demands surrounded by painted designs and affixed to a large piece of hardboard.

The Barunga Statement painting combined several clan designs from Yolngu country in northeastern Arnhem Land on the left with a large design featuring traditional Central Desert iconography on the right.

As such it visually affirmed the unified demands of the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory and the Land Councils that represented the interests of those who had already attained the first measure of self-management promised by the Land Rights Act (NT) 1976.

The Barunga Statement was signed by several representatives present.  

Although Mr Hawke signed the Barunga Statement telling the gathering he would organise a treaty between black and white Australians by 1990, it was not a legally binding agreement.

There is a sad irony to that fact once again, as happened with the Yirrkala Bark Petition, the concepts of the white man’s law were used to invalidate the demands that black man’s law be honoured in Australia.

It is sadder still in that one of the points in the Statement calls for a ‘justice system which recognises our customary law’.

In 1991, in his last act as Prime Minister, Mr Hawke shed a tear as he hung the Barunga Statement in Parliament House, saying he wished he could have done more for Indigenous Australians (he never delivered on the promised treaty).

In 2010, The Barunga Festival will Celebrate its 25th Anniversary.

Top image of traditional dancers by Ludo Kuipers.