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Garma 2010
Ministery of Foureign Affairs, August 2010
Visit Dutch Ambassador to Garma Festival
Ambassador will present an old map at the Garma Festival
Ambassador Mr Willem Andreae will attend the Aboriginal Garma Festival in Arnhem Land in August. During this festival the Ambassador will present a copy of an old map drawn up in 1623 of Arnhemland, named after the Netherlands East Indies vessel Arnhem.
In 1623 an expedition consisting of two VOC-ships, Arnhem and Pera, under the command of Jan Carstensz set sail to northern Australia to extend Willem Jansz’s earlier survey and look for a possible opening (the Torres Strait). During a fight with Papuans in New Guinea the skipper of the Arnhem got killed and Carstensz appointed Willem van Colster as the new skipper of the Arnhem. Relations between the two men were strained by the poor state of the Arnhem and the difficulties of the passage.
In April they arrived on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula and continued past Jansz’s Cape Keerweer to the southern end of the Gulf of Carpentaria where the expedition halted. From this point onwards Carstensz planned to slowly retrace his steps, investigating the land and its inhabitants more closely – a proposition van Colster considered likely to have disastrous consequences for his crew in the badly leaking Arnhem.
Instead, van Colster separated from Carstensz and sailed north-west in the hope of getting back to Banda as quickly as possible. Coincidentally he discovered part of the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria and mapped Cape Arnhem. However, van Colster thought the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria were islands, which he named Arnhem and Van Speults Islands.
A copy of this map of the journey of the ship the Arnhem in 1623 will be presented by the Ambassador at the Garma Festival to the organizers. The Dutch historical references with Arnhem Land led to the visit of the Ambassador to the Garma Festival.
The 12th Garma Festival will be held from 6 to 10 August 2010 at Gulkula, North East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. The annual Garma Festival is the largest and most vibrant celebration of Yolngu (Aboriginal people of north-east Arnhem Land) culture. The event is widely regarded as one of Australia's most significant Indigenous festivals.
The aim of the festival is to encourage local people to preserve and maintain traditional dance (bunggul), song (manikay), art and ceremony. This year’s theme is ‘Indigenous Education and Training’.
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Interview Dutch Ambassador at 12th Garma Festival
Click >>> Resources: Arnhem Land: Interview with the Dutch Ambassador at GARMA - 06 August 2010
from Indigenous Stock Exchange: Resources: www.isx.org.au/resources/YolnguBusiness/bydate_index.html
Interviewer: Could you tell me who you are and why are you at Garma?
Ambassador Willem Andreae: Yes. My name is Willem Andreae. I'm the Dutch ambassador in Australia, and the reason -and there is a very specific reason for me to come over here to Garma- is that the Dutch were the first Europeans to come into contact with the Yolngu. And, well, part of this festival is about culture, is about history, is about background. And, well, I wanted to know more about the Yolngu and hopefully also that way the Yolngu will know a bit more about the first Dutch coming over to Arnhem Land.
I: Well, the word Balanda says it all, doesn't it?
WA: Indeed it does. And I noticed that many people in Australia don't know how Arnhem Land got its name. And that was because a Dutch ship came, sailed here, and more or less went of course, made landfall at Blue Mud Bay and in the process, on its way back, charted this land. And that's how the land was called after the ship Arnhem.
I: Do we know much about the Arnhem and its captain?
WA: Yes, We know a little bit, but mainly in the negative. And that is that the ship came with another Dutch ship and the other ship was the leading ship, so to say, but the Arnhem split of because it was very badly damaged in a storm and had run aground a number of times and wanted to go back home through the safest and the fastest way, which was not the way the other ship was planning to go back. So in the middle of the night, in the month of May 1623 they lifted anchor and disappeared into the dark. And hit the western coast, literally, of the gulf of Carpenteria, which is Arnhem Land.
I: Did they have to stay here for any time, to repair the boat or...?
WA: Well, we don't know. We don't know what happened.............Normally all the trips of the Dutch India ships are very well documented. This ship didn't leave any logbook, any journal. That may have to do because they split of from the other boat, but in the meantime they charted the whole coast here and those charts have been used by other Dutch explorers that came after, like well-known people like Abel Tasman for instance.
I: So could you give us the history of those different visits to Arnhem Land.
WA: Well, we don't know much about that once again. According to the map that the crew of the Arnhem drew they thought basically that Blue Mud Bay were islands. And they called them the Arnhem islands. Only later it was established that this was part of the mainland, so to say. But we don't know much about what happened. Only the Arnhem got back safely in the month of June 1623. But what happened really in that month of May 1623 we don't know. One of the things that I would like to know more about is perhaps on the side of the Yolngu people that somebody would be able to tell me if they have some more information on this. I know that there are certain rumors on a clash between the Dutch and the Yolngu in Blue Mud Bay, but I've verified this. I've talked to a number of people, including people from the Blue Mud Bay area, and they all tell me that to the extent there were clashes this was not between the Yolngu and the Dutch, but this was between the Yolngu and the crew of Flinders.
I: It's just a fascinating story, isn't it? And I believe that you may presenting something to the Yolngu people at the Garma festival.
WA: Indeed yes. I brought with me a very nice copy of the first map that the Dutch ever drew of the coastline here of Arnhem Land. We also brought with us a small map that indicates the course and the route that the Arnhem probably did. We have been able to work that out to some extent. And it gives a fascinating insight of where the ship was during the month of May. But unfortunately we do not know what it did and if they met people, if they had contact with some people. Well, they must have, because they needed to take in fresh water from time to time. They needed to take in fresh vegetables, fruits, figs and things like that. And we don't know anything at all about that.
I: Does the Dutch government want to make a special friendship with the Yolngu as a result of this early contact?
WA: Well, in the year 2006 we commemorated 400 years of the first Dutch making landfall and the first contacts between the Dutch and the population of Australia. We reconciled with the people in Weipa, across the Weipa, in Cape York. We also reconciled with the people in Geraldton. And we reconciled with the people on the Tiwi Islands. But it appeared that we overlooked the Yolngu, until I came here today and... Well, to the extent there is a need for reconciliation, we will have reconciliation. If there is no need, we'll just have fun.
I: Well, thank you very much. And I hope this Garma festival leads you to find some more information about the Arnhem's visit to Arnhem Land.
WA: Well, I dearly hope so. And, well, if anybody can help us out with information on these first contacts between the Dutch and the Yolngu, please let me know.
I: Thank you.
Transcript by CvK
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vanCAN-CDP <can-cdp@minbuza.nl>
aan corvankeuk@gmail.com
datum 3 november 2010 07:33
onderwerp Verzoening tussen Nederland en het Australische Yolngu volk
verzonden door minbuza.nl
Geachte heer Van Keuk,
Uw e-mailberichten van 26 augustus jl. heb ik in goede orde ontvangen.
Uit naam van alle andere geadresseerden stuur ik u bijgesloten brief in kopie.
Het orgineel van deze brief gaat U per eerst volgende koerier (9/11/2010)
tegemoet.
Hoogachtend,
C.W. Andreae
Hr Ms Ambassadeur in Australië
Dutch celebrate historic links with the people of Arnhem LandNewsflash | 9 August 2010 Close to 400 years of contact between the Netherlands and the people of Arnhem Land provide the basis for an arts project aimed at helping the young women of the region develop skills to provide livelihoods and address the high incidence of youth suicide. The Netherlands is to support a project with the Warruwi community South Goulburn Island that will teach young women from that community screen-printing skills. The Netherlands has made available $5500 to finance the scheme, which will be implemented in partnership with Indigenous Community Volunteers [ICV]. Netherlands ambassador to Australia Willem Andreae made the announcement while attending the Garma Festival underway in Arnhem Land where the theme for this year’s event is ‘Indigenous Education and Training’. “My presence at the Garma Festival is to underscore the historic relationship the Netherlands has with the people in Arnhemland. The Garma Festival is one of Australia’s most significant events to celebrate Indigneous culture. This year, the focus is on Indigenous education and training. Hence, our decision to finance this arts project with ICV and express our support for the people of Arnhem Land.” To ensure there is long term support for the project, the Mardbalk Arts Centre has been set up with the necessary equipment. The project will bring in volunteers to help establish the scheme and teach the necessary skills. Low self esteem among young Aboriginal people is a key factor leading to rates of Indigenous suicide estimated to be two to three times that of the non-Indigenous population. Contact between the Netherlands and the population of Arnhem Land date back to 1623. In that year, the vessel Arnhem became the first European ship to visit and chart the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. This is how Arnhem Land received its name. Dutch links with Arnhem land are still visible today, including in Dutch place names in the area and also in old rock paintings which depict Dutch Ships. ICV Chief Executive Officer Gregory Andrews stated that this was another example of ICV working with communities. “Over the last two years we have completed 1,490 projects like this one across Australia. We have finished more projects across the country than we did in the first seven years of our existence between 2001 and 2007".
Home - Netherlands Missions - www.netherlands.org.au/ -
HUNDREDS OF YEARS THE BASIS FOR A PROJECT SPANNING NORTH AND SOUTH Indigenous Community Volunteers; 06 August 2010 The Netherlands, the people of Arnhem Land and Indigenous Community Volunteers [ICV] are using nearly 400 years of links to combine to help the young women of the region develop skills to provide livelihoods and address the high incidence of youth suicide. Netherlands ambassador to Australia Willem Andreae used the setting of the Garma Festival, the country’s premier Indigenous cultural festival to announce a $5500 grant to finance that will help teach young women of the Warruwi community South Goulburn Island screen-printing skills. The scheme which is to be implemented in partnership with ICV coincides with the festival’s theme of Indigenous Education and Training. “My presence at the Garma Festival is to underscore the historic relationship the Netherlands has with the people in Arnhem land. This year, the focus is on Indigenous education and training. Hence, our decision to finance this arts project with ICV and express our support for the people of Arnhem Land.” Contact between the Netherlands and the population of Arnhem Land date back to 1623 when the vessel Arnhem became the first European ship to visit and chart the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Low self esteem among young Aboriginal people is a key factor leading to rates of Indigenous suicide estimated to be two to three times that of the non-Indigenous population. Indigenous Community Volunteers — News <<< www.icv.com.au/.../hundreds-of-years-the-basis-for-a-project-spanning-north ******************************** Nederland haalt banden aan met Arnhemland Ambassadeur Willem Andreae heeft van 6 tot 8 Augustus een bezoek gebracht aan het inheemse Garma Festival in Arnhemland in de Northern Territory. Het doel van het festival is het stimuleren van de lokale bevolking om de tradities, zoals dans (bunggul), zang (manikay), kunst en ceremonies levend te houden. Dit jaar is het thema ‘Indigenous Education and Training’. Aanleiding was het aantrekken van de historische banden tussen Nederland en de bevolking van Arnhemland. Deze contacten dateren van 1623, toen het Nederlandse schip de Arnhem als eerste een deel van de west kust van de Golf van Carpentaria in kaart bracht. Op deze manier kwam Arnhemland aan zijn naam. De Nederlandse banden met Arnhemland zijn nog steeds zichtbaar, bijvoorbeeld in de plaatsnaam Groote Eylandt. Er bestaan zelfs rotsschilderingen in Arnhemland van oude Nederlandse VOC schepen. Tijdens zijn bezoek overhandigde de Ambassadeur een kopie van de eerste kaart van Arnhemland aan Galarrwuy Yunupingu AM, politiek leider van de Yolngu bevolking. De Ambassadeur kondigde tevens aan dat Nederland een project zal steunen met de Warruwi en Minjilang gemeenschappen in West Arnhem Land. Dit kunstproject zal meisjes van deze gemeenschappen zogenaamde ‘screen-printing’ vaardigheden leren. Deze vaardigheden kunnen ze gebruiken om in hun levensonderhoud te voorzien. Ambassadeur Andreae: “My presence at the Garma Festival is to underscore the historic relationship the Netherlands has with the people in Arnhemland. The Garma Festival is one of Australia’s most significant events to celebrate Indigenous culture. This year, the focus is on Indigenous education and training. Hence, our decision to finance this arts project and express our support for the people of Arnhem Land.” De Ambassade stelt $5,500 ter beschikking voor de financiering van het kunstproject, dat zal worden uitgevoerd in partnerschap met Indigenous Community Volunteers [ICV]. Jonge Aborigines in Australië hebben veel te kampen met een negatief zelfbeeld en incidenten van zelfmoord liggen drie keer hoger dan bij de niet-inheemse bevolking. Het project is opgezet om deze bevolking aan meer zelfvertrouwen te helpen. Template Nieuws - NL - Nederlandse Vertegenwoordigingen |
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from Indigenous Stock Exchange: Resources:
-Aboriginal education key theme Garma Festival- 100807 The Australian A cool, dry-season wind sweeps across East Arnhem Land, and the dancing begins. It is an ancient ceremony to open Garma, Australia's best-established indigenous cultural event. Here on this Top End escarpment, 600km east of Darwin, thousands of silver-domed tents sit among the stringybark trees as people from interstate and overseas converge on the tiny community of Gulkula to experience the Yolngu culture. Before a mixed audience of dreadlocked backpackers, indigenous policy experts and festival regulars, Gumatj clan leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu opened the festival and declared Aboriginal education the key theme. "The little ones can't be who they want to be without learning," said Mr Yunupingu, 62. "They must have an educational pathway created properly by the adults like you and me." As part of the opening ceremony, Dutch ambassador Willem Andreae presented Mr Yunupingu with a replica map of the voyage of the Arnhem, the Dutch vessel that skirted the Australian coast in 1623. "It's going to remind people there's been another country which had respect for the country and never took it over," Mr Yunupingu said. For the Yolngu younger generation, the festival is an opportunity to better understand their ties to the land, to learn spear-making and how to find bush tucker, and even master the didgeridoo, formerly the preserve of the elders. "It's honey-bee season too," said Mr Yunupingu's sister, Margaret, 59. "It's hidden from you, but our eyes are made to see it." As a Yolngu symbol of the good things in life, the honey bee reflects one of the goals of the event: resurrecting Dhupuma College, which once stood on the festival site and where many of the region's leaders were educated before its closure in the late 1970s. "We want to have a residential college that provides a high standard of education to Yolngu people," said indigenous academic Marcia Langton. "Most of the generation that came after Dhupuma are illiterate, not only in English but in their own languages." And with the first remote polling for the election to take place at the festival on Monday, participants hope the event will put the focus on indigenous affairs. "It's like we've been invisible in this election," said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda.
The Australian-Aboriginal education the key theme of northeast Arnhem Land's ... <<< _________________________________________________________________
full text >>> Garma consensus for local solutions | The Australian "...Hence this year's stringent Garma focus on schooling and the presence at the festival of the visionaries of the field. Pearson will be on hand, with evidence of initial successes in his own area's schools as they test out new direct instruction methods. Tobias Nganbe, chief local inspirer of the Da Ngamilmin educational reforms in the large NT community of Wadeye, is also attending. Men of this stripe, reformers with experience on the ground, are the key voices. It is impossible for Yunupingu and his fellow clan leaders not to be conscious of how badly the education system in the NT has failed them. The awful enrolment figures for indigenous remote area schools can be read on the MySchool website: even those figures understate the collapse in community school performance. In the desert and the Top End, daily attendance often falls to levels below 20 per cent of the school-age population. Against this backdrop, Labor's failure to fulfil its 2007 campaign pledge and build three regional indigenous boarding facilities bites hard. (Labor this week announced it would move to build its three long-promised boarding facilities if re-elected:) Yunupingu aims to use the region's initial royalties, the lion's share of which falls to his Gumatj clan, to rebuild Dhupuma, and longing for educational success is plain is across the region. The Tiwi Islanders secured federal funds to help them build a dedicated private college on Melville Island, while a handful of well-run remote schools in Arnhem Land have been switching to Christian systems to secure additional support. This dream of real education stems in great part from the memory of what Dhupuma was: a campus that trained most of the leaders of today's north. It was a place with a code. Its symbols recalled the potent story cycles of the region. Yunupingu briefed an architect on plans for the new school recently: in his vision it would be a 300-pupil high school balancing and integrating two cultures: his own and the mainstream. It would provide core rules that today's wayward young generations lack -- moral guidelines: "Don't lie or the lie will get you. Don't steal or the theft will destroy you. Don't hate or the hate will kill you." Another guideline sits inside Yunupingu's head: he, like Pearson, accepts that collectivism has failed Aboriginal people in the bush. Pearson, in his columns in The Australian, speaks of enlightened self-interest as a means of levering remote area communities out of poverty. Yunupingu appeals to the family principle: initiative propelling family members to work for each others' benefit. There is a strong quality of return to past paradigms in these thought patterns, and in this way the plan to remake Dhupuma as an elite college is a means of annulling a generation of shared fates and wasted schemes...." www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/.../story-e6frgd9f-1225901960424
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