Uploaded February 2010 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
This is a festival over at Milingimbi Island, also known as Yurrwi to Yolngu people, or the Crocodile Islands to whitefellas in the old days - must be a lot of crocs around in the estuaries!
The festival is an annual event with a mix of sport, traditional dance, rock'n'roll, and other cultural activities, it is nice to be surrounded by an almost all Aboriginal crowd, you'd be hard-pressed to find a white face in there except for some people who work locally. There are dance competitions for the young people, basketball and football competitions, etc. etc.
Yolngu come from all over Arnhem Land to enjoy the festival and to be re-acquainted with family and friends, so you'll surely bump into people from Ramingining and Elcho Island mainly, and also from further afield like Yirrkala, Gapuwiyak, Maningrida, Croker and Goulburn Islands etc. The line-up of musical acts makes the trip worthwhile if you're coming from somewhere else, and its all free!
This is the Marrangu group singing and dancing, listen to the yirdaki part, the lilting rhythms and impeccable technique is pretty special!
This is a festival over at Milingimbi Island, also known as Yurrwi to Yolngu people, or the Crocodile Islands to whitefellas in the old days - must be a lot of crocs around in the estuaries!
The festival is an annual event with a mix of sport, traditional dance, rock'n'roll, and other cultural activities, it is nice to be surrounded by an almost all Aboriginal crowd, you'd be hard-pressed to find a white face in there except for some people who work locally. There are dance competitions for the young people, basketball and football competitions, etc. etc.
Yolngu come from all over Arnhem Land to enjoy the festival and to be re-acquainted with family and friends, so you'll surely bump into people from Ramingining and Elcho Island mainly, and also from further afield like Yirrkala, Gapuwiyak, Maningrida, Croker and Goulburn Islands etc. The line-up of musical acts makes the trip worthwhile if you're coming from somewhere else, and its all free!
This is the Marrangu group singing and dancing, listen to the yirdaki part, the lilting rhythms and impeccable technique is pretty special!
