The Community

The Barunga Community or Bamyili is located alongside Beswick Creek, about half an hour drive from Katherine, a 4-hour drive south of Darwin, Northern Territory.

The Festival

Every year, the Barunga community holds sports and cultural festivals open to the public. The sports festival includes basketball and the Australian Football League (AFL) championship with other Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. The festival also has traditional activity shows such as the didgeridoo-making workshop, bush tucker cooking, spearfishing, and many more Aboriginal culture-related events.

There are also a few different performance stages for music or dancing performances. The main stage, located in the middle of the community, will be the main act or headline of the festival. Paul Kelly, Gurumul, B2M and Briggs were the headline performance when I went in 2015.

There is no accommodation open for the public. Still, the area around the community will be open for camping and caravan parking. Food carts are also available. Barunga Festival is one of the biggest open community festivals in the Northern Territory. I’m blessed to have visited the event twice.

Photos

Here are some of my shots from the festivals