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12 KATHERINE TIMES, WEDNESDAY MAY 15, 2013 www.katherinetimes.com.au
IN 1988 at the Barunga Festival,the then Prime Minister, Bob Hawke,who was attending the Festival, waspresented with two paintings and atext calling for Indigenous rights.
This has become known as theBarunga Statement.
In his speech Bob Hawke saidthere would be a treaty within the lifeof the current Parliament.
This never happened, but in thespirit of the original intention, peoplestill gather annually at Barunga to cel-ebrate indigenous culture.
This much loved Territory eventsees people from all over the countrydescend upon the small indigenouscommunity about 70km south ofKatherine where they camp and takepart in a program of workshops, dancing ceremonies, traditional bushtucker gathering, didgeridoo making,basket weaving and enjoy plenty ofgreat music and sport from theKatherine region.
Barunga Festival is an excitingtime for the community as they re-unite with family members and coun-trymen from all over the Top End, andwelcome tourists from far and near toexperience community life for theweekend.
Barunga Festival 2013 will be noexception, as the Festival is re-ener-gized by new festival directors, Skin-nyfish Music.
Skinnyfish, under the leadership of2013 Australians of the Year, NT,Mark Grose and Michael Hohnen, hasbeen granted the rights to run the fes-tival for the next five years with the
blessing of the traditional owners ofBarunga.
“We strongly believe in the impor-tant role that community festivals playand are fully committed to ensuringthat the Barunga Festival is a commu-nity event with community outcomesincluding sustained training opportu-nities and small business develop-ment”, Skinnyfish Managing DirectorMark Grose, said.
In keeping with the traditions thathave made Barunga Festival thelargest remote community festival inAustralia and one of the Northern Ter-ritory’s most treasured celebrations ofIndigenous culture, there will be a fullprogram of music, sport and culture -plenty to do all weekend no matterhow young or old you are.
In consultation with the BarungaCommunity, a Healthy Food Policyhas been developed and will be insti-gated for the first time.
No more “chicken and chips” butplenty of tasty alternatives, from noo-dle soups, laksas, curries, hamburgers,to smoothies, pancakes and breakfastmuffins baked on site.
You will find all this fabulous foodunder the trees and shade of HeritagePark. Barunga School has been busypainting chairs and tables with localdesigns and logos in traditionalcolours of black, red, yellow andochre.
Where else can you sit on a workof art and enjoy delicious food at af-fordable prices?
Heritage Park will be a hub of en-tertainment, food and art where you
can meet and buy local art works di-rect from the artists.
Also at community request, allkids’ entertainment will be free thisyear.
There will be jumping castles,water slides, a climbing wall, facepainting, toy making.
Corrugated Iron Youth Arts willrun Circus workshops under the BigTop at Culture Park.
And it’s all free.Forty sports teams from all over
will battle it out on the footy field,basketball court and softball diamond.
Competition for the covetedBarunga trophies is fierce and itpromises to be a big weekend ofsporting prowess.
Watch out for visiting AFL starswho are looking forward to learning atrick or two from the masters of “bushballet”, footy community style.
If sport is not your thing, head toCulture Park.
Local community members will beteaching the finer points of spearthrowing, damper making, bushtucker, didge playing, weaving, etc.
The community at Barunga is veryproud of its traditions, and is lookingforward to demonstrating them to vis-itors.
As the sun sets every evening,community members and visitors willsit down together to the mesmerizingrhythms of the clap sticks and thehaunting chants of the songmen as thedancers gather for bungul/traditionaldance.
Music has always played a key role
at Barunga Festival and this year thereis music for everyone.
Friday night is disco night.Get your dancing shoes on and ex-
perience the Barunga Festival Disco-Remix-Dance-Off.
If you don’t know what that meansyou’re too old to be there but feel freeto come and watch dance moves likeyou’ve never seen before.
Saturday night is CommunityBands Night on the Skinnyfish Stage.
All night long band after band willhit the stage and unleash the harddriving rock sound that the Top Endis known for.
Bands descend from far and wideto take to the Barunga stage.
You will never hear a collection ofbands like this anywhere else in theworld.
And you will never see an audi-ence who loves their bands as muchas the Barunga community
Sunday night is concert night andwill be a very special evening. JohnButler will start the evening on thestage that his Seed Foundation hassupported for so many years.
Gurrumul will perform to the pub-lic for the first time in the Territory
since 2008. With music from the Top End to
the Centre, two celebrated Territorianbands B2M and Tjupi Band will takethe night away and close out the 2013festival.
If the big concerts are not yourthing, this year for the first time we in-troduce the APRA Acoustic Tent.Located down by the river, with a firepit to keep everyone warm at night,the Tent will seduce you with its mel-low, relaxed atmosphere.
During the day, hear the BarungaWomen’s Choir or join in languageclasses and learn some Kriol.
After dark, sit back, relax, breathin the cool night air and be entertainedby B2M, Tom E. Lewis, and Recon-ciliation Australia’s 2013 Ambassa-dors and Triple J darlings ThelmaPlum and Emma Louise.
The APRA Acoustic tent is inten-tionally loosely programmed to allowroom for anyone that pops by to getup and perform.
Barunga Festival is a celebration ofboth the past and the future of Indige-nous Australia, and is integral to en-riching the tapestry of modernAustralian culture and understanding.
>> travel
Barunga Festival tocelebrate culture
Celebrate your special occasionat Cicada Lodge on the beau�ful
Nitmiluk Gorge
Birthdays; weddings; anniversaries; bridal showers .....Why not make your occasion extra special at Cicada Lodge.Champagne on arrival, sunset drinks and appe�zers on thepool deck and full breakfast from $645 per room per night.
1800CICADA/1800 242 232
Barunga Festival, June 7 to 10Tickets available for sale at Nitmiluk Tours on Katherine TerraceAdults: $30Children 12 to 18 years: $10 (under 12 free)Entry fee valid for three-day festival.
W I NB a r u n g a F e s t i v a l t i c k e t s f o r y o u r s e l f ,
f r i e n d s a n d f a m i l y .Simply tell us in 25 words or less why you want to go to the
Barunga Festival.Email your entry, name and phone number to
editor.kathtimes@ruralpress.com.Competition closes COB Friday, May 31.
Tickets kindly donated by Cicada Lodge and Nitmiluk Tours.
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