From the Deputy Principal

Garma Festival – finally!

It was a case of third time lucky for me, our Indigenous Education Leader Kate Howie and three of our First Nations students in Year 11, Georgia, Indi and Amarley, when we finally had the opportunity to attend the Youth GARMA Festival in the Northern Territory last weekend. This trip was first planned in 2020 and has since been cancelled twice.

The meaning of Garma is ‘two-way learning’ and the theme of the 2022 festival was Nhana Nathilyurra – Looking Ahead Towards the Future. The festival took place on the land of the Yolngu people on Gumatj country in East Arnhem Land where the local language is Yolngu Matha, which simply means Yolngu language. To set the scene, you might like to play this soundbite of a didgeridoo which I recorded during our stay.

Garma is Australia’s premier Indigenous cultural exchange, attended by guests from all over Australia and the world, including students and staff from seven other schools and Pymble. It attracts a wide range of people yet there’s a strong sense of one community, one culture and the topic of Voice to Parliament was omnipresent.

The Youth stream of the festival was led by AIME mentors who guided the students’ curiosity as they took a deep dive into the local Yolngu culture, the Imagination Declaration and their mantra, “We are the solution not the problem”. 

While chatting with the girls, they shared their significant moments and highlights of our three days at Garma, which included: 

  • meeting many new people from diverse backgrounds and cultures; 
  • learning from a healing ceremony, where they felt a strong sense of connection to ancestral spirits; 
  • the twice daily Bungul (dancing); and
  • feeling inspiration, awe and perhaps envy of the Yolngu people and their strong connection to culture.  

We were all impressed by the number of dignitaries who made it their business to be at Garma, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his entourage, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, Minister for Indigenous Affairs Linda Burney, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar, US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy and journalist Stan Grant.

Our girls enjoyed the opportunity to share their experiences of our First Nations program at Pymble on Q&A and NITV, meet Carolyn Kennedy and grill the Prime Minister about the role of imagination in forging unlikely connections that lead to a different and fairer world.

 

The discussion, dialogue, cultural activities, dance and presence of so many interested parties from near and far suggests increased hope for an Indigenous voice enshrined in the Constitution but, of course, we all have a part to play in achieving that goal.  

 

Mrs Julie Shaw
Deputy Principal