Location

The festival site at Gulkula is approximately 40 kilometres from the township of Nhulunbuy, and about 14 kilometres south east of Gove airport. The Garma ceremonial ground is the focus of the festival.

Traditionally, funeral ceremonies have been performed here. The ceremonial ground is at the centre of the festival site and it is here that bunggul (ceremony) continues to be performed late each afternoon during the Garma Festival.

Gulkula has profound meaning for Yolngu. Set in a stringybark forest with views to the Gulf of Carpentaria, it is where the ancestor Ganbulapula brought the yidaki (didjeridu) into being among the Gumatj people. Gulkula is an area with a range of significant ancestral connections