Garma Festival: Extraordinary Admission Fees for ‘Grass Roots’ Indigenous Gathering in East Arnhem Land Revealed

Australia’s largest celebration of Indigenous culture charges up to $5,000 per person for the four-day event.

Tickets for the Garma Festival at East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory start at $1,650 for high school students and go up to $5,000 for a business pass.

Garma is an annual festival held every August at the sacred Gumatj Bunggul ground in Gulkula.

This year the festival runs from Friday 4 August to Monday 7 August.

The site marks the place where Yolngu ancestor Ganbulapula would search for honey with a staff that contained the life force of Garrtjambal, the creator spirit who took the form of a large red kangaroo.

Garma is an annual festival held every August at the sacred Gumatj Bunggul ground in Gulkula (pictured, Gumatj dancers in Garma)

Attendance at Garma is up 25 percent since 2015.

Festival caterer Sodexo estimated its 55-person team will serve 26,400 meals over four days, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Most of the attendees will be Yolngu with about 1,000 guests coming from elsewhere.

However, the high price of tickets to Garma makes it an exclusive event.

Elementary and high school students pay $1,650 for a four-day pass, while tickets for TAFE and college students over the age of 18 cost $1,850.

An adult pass costs a participant $2,750 and business passes cost as much as $5,000 per person.

Children under the age of five receive free entry.

In June, the federal government announced it would donate $775,000 to the Garma Festival, which raises between $10 and $15 million each year for the Northern Territory’s economy.

Garma is hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation and started in 1999 as a barbecue.

Since then, the festival has evolved into a political stage for Indigenous issues and the three-day forum agenda changes each year to reflect a theme.

A hot topic in Garma this year is the Voice to Parliament with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) attending along with other Yes campaigners

Opposition leader Peter Dutton declined the invitation to Garma because the event would be a ‘love-in’ for the Yes campaign (pictured, traditional Bunggul dancers in Garma)

This year’s theme is djambatj, which means ‘a perfect moment when the balance of our world is right’.

While land rights, education, public funding and health are common topics in Garma, the main topic of conversation this year will be the vote to parliament.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend Garma this year along with Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health and Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy and Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour.

The date of the Voice referendum will not be announced in Garma, but Mr Albanese took advantage of the event last year to reveal the wording of the proposed voting question.

In his festival speech on Saturday, Mr Albanese confirmed the government would go ahead with the referendum and urged Australians who will vote ‘yes’ to encourage others to do so.

“The form of constitutional recognition they are asking for is a vote, not our sympathy, not a symbol, but a vehicle for progress,” he told festival-goers.

‘A practical tool to improve the lives of their children. Not just something that will feel good, something that will do good, that will make a positive difference.

Australian people need to be equally clear about what not voting means.

It’s more of the same. Not just rejecting the chance to do better, but accepting that what we have is somehow good enough.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton declined an invitation to the festival because the event would be a ‘love-in’ for the Yes campaign.

Earlier this week, Mr Albanese called on Mr Dutton to attend ABC radio’s RN breakfast.

“I’m just saying to Peter Dutton, he needs to get out of his dirt unit on these issues and go to[the]red mud of Arnhem Land this weekend, go to Garma, which is the most important indigenous cultural event taking place in this country,” he said. he.

Mr Dutton responded to Sydney’s 2GB on Thursday: “Garma is a celebration and a good thing, but it will be largely occupied by the CEOs and… others of public companies and all those who funded the Yes campaign.

The number of visitors to Garma has increased by 25 percent since 2015 (pictured, Red Flag dancers in Garma)

“It will be a love-in for Yes advocates and advocates.

“I’m not going there to pretend I’m someone I’m not.”

No campaigners, Indigenous Australian shadow spokesperson Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Senator Kerrynne Liddle were also invited to Garma.

Garma Festival administration was contacted by Daily Mail Australia for comment on ticket prices.