Barunga Festival - 2024

Barunga Festival is a must for anyone seeking an authentic Aboriginal cultural experience. An iconic family friendly event on the national festival calendar. Barunga boasts a long and proud tradition of celebrating Indigenous music, culture and sport.

This much loved Territory festival attracts more than 4000 fans - Indigenous and non-Indigenous people - who celebrate together in a small community with a population of about 360. Barunga is 80 kilometers southeast of Katherine. The Traditional Owners welcome you to camp and take part in a program of activities over the three-day long weekend in June each year.

Barunga Festival has a long history of showcasing Katherine and Arnhem Land regional arts and supporting remote Indigenous communities to come together and celebrate the positive aspects of community life. Visitors of all ages are encouraged to join in the festivities and enjoy this unique opportunity to engage with a remote Indigenous community.

The Camp Dog Challenge was a huge success with a large crowd showing up on Saturday to watch the show. Congratulations to the Barunga residents and dogs that competed.

And we can't have a festival without the music! This year's deadly line -up included: J-Milla, Yung Milla, Yilila, Yothu Yindi, Ngulmiya, Drifting Clouds, Andrew Gurruwiwi Band and Tjupi Band.

A big thank you to Paws Darwin for their support of this event! The Paws team came down from Darwin in the weeks leading up to the festival to help train the dogs and also helped out on the day too. And of course a massive thank you to the Barunga mob who let us all come and experience such an amazing festival. We can't wait for next year!