The Barunga Festival is a special time for Jawoyn people.

It is a time we open our Barunga community for people to come and share our country and culture with us.

This year, more than 4000 people from Northern Territory outstations and communities, from interstate and overseas, all flocked to Barunga to camp out and experience an abundance of sport, music and culture.

This year’s festival also had a very special importance, as we marked the 30 years since the Barunga Statement was presented to the former Prime Minister Bob Hawke calling for a treaty and he promised the Australian government would work toward one.

It was then fitting that on Friday June 8, the festival kicked off with the Northern Territory Government signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Territory’s four representative land councils to negotiate a treaty.