At this year’s chapter, as always, music, art and sport took centre stage, with musicians and artists Yilila, Coloured Stone, Ngulmiya, Blekbala Mujik, Yung Milla, Nangu Red Sunset Band and Emu Sisters making their sounds heard across the weekend, sharing the audio issue of songline.

Ever popular, the art sales, from prints to totems, tea towels, baskets and jewellery, were again bustling with curious customers, enthralled by designs you won’t find anywhere else in the world.

But they also tell a story, and with them, you bring back stories and songlines to help preserve and share the stories of community.

And the sports fields made for riveting watching – it’s all the games you know, football, basketball and softball, but with passion unrivalled and seldom seen anywhere else in the world.

We know how important the festival is for the Territory – it puts some of the most intricate parts of the our unique culture, rarely found elsewhere across the Territory, and the support from our Government, as well as the Northern Territory Major Events Company, builds it up to an event that locals and visitors to the Territory travel to, from far and wide, to experience.

Unlike many of our major events, Barunga Festival is one exclusive to the Territory and one not found anywhere else in the world.

For those who’ve been before, I look forward to seeing you again next year, and for those who have not, make sure you put it to the top of your bucket list – and experience the best the Territory has to offer.