What it means to be at Garma in 2024

Over the past few days at the invitation of Reconciliation Australia , I attended Garma.

Garma takes place in North East Arnhem land on the traditional lands of the Yolngu people – a generous, kind, spiritual people deeply connected to and in 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 attended but it is even more powerful than I remember.

But in 2024, this gathering means something unique.

What was striking was 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 its 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. But the clear call 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. As Mr Djawa Yunuping said, “To keep our promise and to put fire in the bright minds of the children.”

Garma allows you the chance to see kinship between members of the local community, families 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, children are in such closeness in this community and it is truly a life changing thing to see. It is like peering into thousands of years of history to see Aboriginal way of life that is so very community focussed. We exist, after all, in a sector where children are taken from their families. We see more of the severing of these ties than we see the preservation of them.

Spending time with brilliant women cultivated by Karen Mundine and the Reconciliation Australia team was special beyond words. There was such energy in being amongst people with a shared vision and belief in Reconciliation and how we need to get there. Our relationship with Reconciliation Australia is deep and special.? The Elevate RAP program 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, with an even greater resolve of our responsibility and our choices to bring reconciliation to the heart of who we are as an organisation. I believe our fire can be infectious, that our choice for unity will become so powerful, no one will want to be left behind.

#reconciliation #partnership #aboriginalaustralia #closethegap #progress #future