Australia's largest Indigenous cultural festival has begun in north-east Arnhem Land.

The Garma Festival brings together Aboriginal clans to celebrate culture and discuss key issues affecting their people.

About 3,000 people are expected to come to Gulkula, 1,000 kilometres east of Darwin, for the festivities.

Garma was declared open by Yolgnu elder Jawa.
"Let me welcome you into my arms and embrace you as one of my own," he said.

The festival gives balandas, or white fellas, an opportunity to experience Aboriginal culture on Yolgnu land and to share ideas in a series of workshops. I have always enjoyed being welcomed as a balandas to this area and meeting the wonderful people of Ahrnemland.

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Books » Nonfiction » Social Sciences » Anthropology » Cultural
Elders Wisdom from Australia's Indigenous Leaders
By Peter McConchie (Photographs by)

This is an important book, whose content is unlike any other. It is about indigenous peoples and their traditional and contemporary ways of living. Elders is a series of chapters authored by tribal elders from around Australia. Each chapter describes an important aspect of contemporary tribal life, and the elder speaks on behalf of his or her tribe - explaining what rituals they hold to, what understandings of the world they have.

They talk about subjects such as The Land, The Sea, Spirit, Law, Family, Healing, Ceremony, Song, and Hunting. Peter McConchie has travelled to the far corners of the continent to listen and record what elders have to say. They speak simply and movingly, and visually stunning photography supports their words. Elders is a book to appeal to the widest possible audience. It is the most representative account of Aboriginal people's lives, culture and beliefs in book form.

Table of Contents1. Healing; 2. The land; 3. Hunting; 4. Gathering; 5. Family; 6. Lore/law; 7. Spirit; 8. The sea; 9. Ceremony and song.

About the AuthorPeter McConchie is an internationally renowned professional photographer who has spent much of his working life travelling the world. Since returning to his native Australia in 1997 he has devoted himself to working within indigenous culture and the environment. His previous books include Yolngu Mali: Aboriginal Spirit and Australia - Beyond Any Price.

Reviews'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are of the Land and Sea. We fit into it, we are shaped by it. Our teaching comes from the Earth itself, by knowing the Mangrove, how deep its story, or the Eucalypt tree, where does it go down to, what level. Knowing the earth is the centre of our wisdom.

Among us there have been no written laws; our traditions are passed down through the spoken word from one generation to the next. Unity, not division, sharing rather than hoarding is our way. So now, we write to you in your language with our timeless wisdom.

Learn from us, as we have had to learn from you.' Mandawuy Yunupingu 'With a wonderful book like this, one wishes that it could be a thousand pages long and that Elders from every nation and every clan within Australia and the Torres Strait Islands could be listened to and their knowledge made available to all. To the Elders not included, an apology is made.

Within this book there are seventeen Elders who speak for their country. In doing so they speak about a universal knowledge that connects us and belongs to us all. These pages contain the true voice of the land and the sea.' Lowitja O'Donoghue