Barunga Festival 2023: From grassroots to a political movement

The Territory’s four land councils have pledged their support for the Voice to Parliament on the historic 35th anniversary of the Barunga Statement.

The Barunga Festival celebrates Indigenous community life through music, sport and culture.

The support of the Territory’s four Aboriginal land councils will send a powerful message to undecided Australians ahead of this year’s referendum that a Voice to Parliament will offer practical benefits to Indigenous communities, according to the Aboriginal Australians Minister.

Speaking on the sidelines of the historic annual Barunga Festival on Saturday, Linda Burney said the joint declaration in favour of enshrining the Voice in the Constitution was “highly significant” in the referendum year.

“Coming to Barunga and having the four NT land councils, Anindilyakwa, Tiwi, Northern and Central sign a declaration 35 years after the Barunga Statement, supporting the constitutional reform and most importantly, inviting the rest of Australia to walk with us, was highly significant,” she said.

“For the land councils to do that after, I’m sure, months of discussion and negotiation was highly significant and very important in sending a message to the rest of the country that Aboriginal people in rural and remote Australia are thinking very deeply about this, particularly in terms of the practical difference it will make in people’s lives.”

Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney speaks ahead of the 3 day Barunga Festival, a celebration of culture, sport and history. Picture Glenn Campbell/Bagala Aboriginal Corp/ Via NCA NewsWire

Ms Burney said the land councils’ support showed there was a real belief in communities that the Voice to Parliament would lead to better outcomes on the ground for Indigenous Australians.

“We want to reform and rebuild the community development program and that’s about employment and having people from communities that actually have the CDP, as it’s called now, advising us on the changes that need to be made is just one example,” she said.

“Things like where dialysis units should be, what are the high priorities in the Aboriginal community, from an Aboriginal perspective, on what needs to be delivered in health is just another example.”

Samuel Bush-Blanasi at the Barunga Festival 2023 in Northern Territory Picture: Pema Tamang Pakrhin

Northern Land Council chairman Samuel Bush-Blanasi said more than three decades after Aboriginal Territorians presented their desire to be heard and for a treaty with the Commonwealth to then Prime Minister Bob Hawke at Barunga in 1988, it was now time “to be included in the constitution”.

“Since 1988, the Barunga Statement was put up on a wall in Parliament House and (treaty) never happened,” he said.

“This is where the Barunga Statement was announced, it was handed to Bob Hawke back then — 35 years later, the Voice is going to happen I think, I just hope that Australia will vote yes.

“We never lost sight of who we were, we’re still the first nations of this place and now we think it’s time for the Australian people to join us and vote yes.”

Mr Bush-Blanasi said while the dream of treaty remained alive, the referendum on the Voice was now on the table and should take priority.

“If the Voice comes in and if we do win then we can work very closely with people like (the National Indigenous Australians Agency), the Territory government and the federal government to better our lives,” he said.

“At the moment our lives are not that good because we’re still being told what (to do).”

In the meantime, Mr Bush-Blanasi said he would “keep sending out a positive message” to all Australians to support constitutional recognition of First Nations people.

“All they got to do is hold their heart, hope it beats and say ‘yes’,” he said.

Iconic festival founder sees Barunga become ‘ground zero’ for Indigenous politics

When Peter Apaak Jupurrula Miller founded the now iconic Barunga Festival more than three decades ago, he never imagined it would become “ground zero” for addressing some of the most pressing issues facing Aboriginal Australians.

“It didn’t have any political connotations to it at the time because all I saw back then as a young guy was to see if there was an opportunity around to bring people together,” he says.

“To share important things like discussions about where we live and how we live and why we’ve come to conclusions in certain parts of our lives and things like that.

“There was no reason for me to set up political conversations about anything, it was just bringing people together for the purpose of breaking down the barriers.”

Peter Apaak Jupurrula Miller at the Barunga Festival 2023 in Northern Territory Picture: Pema Tamang Pakrhin

Looking back from a seat on his lawn after the all night party that kicked off the 2023 celebration of music, culture, sport, art and dance on Friday night, Mr Miller says it was all a reflection of an Australia “built on pride”.

“What we have here in this country is people come from all walks of life and have migrated here and it’s good,” he said.

“For new Australians to get used to what it’s like to live in a country like this, I just wanted to bring about that change to bring people together to share ideas about where we are and what we want to see happen.

“Of course, these new Australians would have had the same reasons why they chose to move from their country of origin to come and live here, to share their unique connection to country in their part of the world.

“We wanted to share the same thing too from here so what better way of doing it than to found an iconic festival like this which began all those years ago.”

Barunga Festival 2023 in Northern Territory Picture: Pema Tamang Pakrhin

Now, with the festival a magnet for movers and shakers from the top echelons of Australian politics, Mr Miller says the event “smack in the middle of the NT” remains a place “for everyone – and that’s what I love about it”.

“I sort of freak out today to see how big it’s become, it’s just blown right out of proportion, so to speak, and we see people coming here, we even see the politicians coming here to speak their mind about certain things,” he says.

“I didn’t realise that this was going to turn out to be ground zero in the future, which is happening now, because this is basically where people have come from all walks of life to voice an opinion about what they wanted to see happen in terms of the political landscape.

“So I think that’s fantastic, that there’s somewhere in this country where people can come and share their concerns and their voice to share with the world.

“That is the reason I call it like ground zero, this is where it all started and this is the best place to say what you have to say to the public.”

Originally published as Barunga Festival 2023: From grassroots to a political movement