A children’s TV megastar, foreign dignitaries and thousands of visitors will converge on remote northeast Arnhem Land for the Garma Festival, which carries the Yolngu theme “Bukmak” – all of us, everyone, together.
The four-day celebration of Yolngu life and culture kicks off on Friday at the Gulkula ceremonial site, about 40km from Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, with organisers expecting between 5500 and 6000 people through the gates.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Education Minister Jason Clare and Indigenous Affairs Minister Malarndirri McCarthy will be among those attending the gathering, which has become one of Australia’s most important forums for Indigenous policy and cultural exchange.
The political heavyweights will share the spotlight with Australia’s most famous blue heeler, with Bluey going bush for a special visit to Yolngu country on Friday so families and djamarrkuli (children) can say yukurr (hello) and grab a selfie.
After dark, all five Bluey episodes translated into Yolngu Matha by the ARDS team will roll out on the big screen, with the crew behind the dubs on hand to share the moment.
Garma is Australia’s largest Indigenous gathering, a four-day celebration of Yolngu life and culture in remote northeast Arnhem Land.
Hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, it showcases traditional miny’tji (art), manikay (song), bunggul (dance) and story-telling, and is a major meeting point for Yolngu clans and families from across the region.
Festival chief executive Denise Bowden says this year’s theme, Bukmak, reflects Garma’s purpose from its earliest days.
“The concept of Bukmak – all of us, everyone, together – has been Garma’s raison d’etre since the beginning,” Ms Bowden said.
“This act of coming together has taken on renewed meaning in recent years, as age-old alliances have been revived and new friendships formed.”
Garma will again host its influential Key Forum, a policy conference drawing political, business, academic and philanthropic leaders from around Australia and overseas to debate land rights, health, education, economic development and government funding.
The festival is also deepening its international ties, with Indigenous leaders from East Timor, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific to be welcomed in 2026 as guests of honour, building on longstanding Yolngu connections.
Ms Bowden described it as evidence the Yolngu were “the nation’s first diplomats”.
Beyond the politics, Garma remains rooted in ceremony and Country.
Each sunset will feature the call of the yidaki (didgeridoo) and the rhythm of the bilma (clapsticks) and guests are encouraged to “sink their feet into the dust” or join Yolngu and balanda (non-Indigenous people) on the dance ground.
The Gapan Gallery, set among stringybark trees, will again open under the stars on Friday night with works from new and established artists curated by the famed Buku Larrnggay art centre.
A Youth Forum will run a packed four-day program for eight to 18-year-olds, mixing visiting schools with local students to build cross-cultural bonds and leadership skills.
Cultural workshops will offer lessons in language, kinship, weaving, spear-making, yidaki and on-Country learning.
As the sun goes down over Gulkula, Garma Cinema will screen First Nations films from Arnhem Land, Australia and abroad.
Around the grounds visitors can wander between fireside chats, poetry readings, astronomy tours and women’s healing sessions to shape their own Garma journey.
In recent years, Garma has drawn more than 5400 attendances over four days, with hundreds of expo stalls, about 750 volunteers, crew and staff and a majority of guests visiting for the first time.
Organisers say that scale – and the theme Bukmak – underline the festival’s central idea: that everyone, together, has a place on the red dust at Gulkula.
Garma runs from Friday to Monday.
