Opening Message
Message from Mandawuy Yunupiŋu
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Fax (61) 08 89411088 Email: yyfadmin@bigpond.com www.garma.telstra.com
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Dear reader,
Garma 2005 was the seventh Garma since we - my family, with some great supporters - started it, and we are very proud of its success, and its real cultural, social and economic outcomes, especially as it takes so much effort to finance and organise.
It's where we encourage all people, old and young, Yolŋu and Ŋapaki to join in wherever they can. That's garma, It is a vital gathering, unique for bringing Yolŋu - and other Indigenous people - and Ŋapaki non-Indigenous people together, for much better understanding.
Dancing, painting, music, craft, and leadership all assist in providing strength of unity and harmony for all groups in the region, to come together for the deliverance of strong Yolŋu tradition and culture. The creative art forms serve to showcase Yolŋu traditions and culture to the rest of the world.
In 2005, we had a new system for running the very important Key Forum, with Charles Darwin University coordinating it, starting a partnership with lots of other arms and legs.
The theme of the Garma Forum this in 2005 was 'Indigenous Cultural Livelihoods'. Our culture is rich, rich in buŋgul (ceremony/dance), in the sacred ancestral plan. The songs, dances and music seen here at Garma are the core of our culture. The thinking and talking here is part of that process and is to support that culture and make it stronger and at the same time create livelihood opportunities from it.
I want to thank all our supporters and partners, especially our four Principal Partners: Alcan; The Christensen Fund; the Australian Government's Australia Council for the Arts; and the Northern Territory Government.
Garma is a strong, powerful concept of learning and qualification, discipline, leadership and culture, combined and shared to create unity and harmony between all people.
I hope you find that experience of Garma here in this report, and that the learning from Garma will spread far and wide to create understanding and knowledge here and wherever you might read this.
Mandawuy Yunupiŋu
Deputy Chairman, Yothu Yindi Foundation
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| Mandawuy Yunupiŋu (Photograph by Andrea Keningston) |