Culture and Sports Festival

This weekend we went to the Barunga Sport and Cultural Festival. This year was the 20th anniversary of this event. Indigenous people came from communities across the Top End, while tourists and white Katherinites also came out.

Communities brought teams for footy (Australian Rules Football), basketball, softball, and athletics (foot races).

The spear-throwing competition required the men (there were only men) to hit a small wallaby-sized box 50 meters away. The spears are long and light with substantial heads and are thrown using a spear-thrower. I wish I’d taken a picture. It was a very difficult task, as nobody got a really good hit and a lot of attempts were made.

Kangaroo tale and damper (campfire bread) were for sale, as well as baskets and paintings. There were lots of other stalls with items like hotdogs and fried chicken and steak sandwiches. Clothing stalls catered to community tastes: hats with sports team logos, brightly colored dresses, clothing with Eminem, Snoop Dogg, etc.

On Saturday evening we watched the Red Flag Dancers and a number of bands from various communities before retiring to our tents. We camped on the school oval (sport field) with lots of others, black and white. It was a nice communal feeling to look across at all the tents and small fires lighting the dusk and make our way to ours.