The atmosphere at this year’s Garma Festival was charged with anticipation, where glimpses of the future were unmistakable. You could feel it in the interactions among budding leaders and see it in the enthusiasm of children eager to grab the microphone during interviews. A sense of curiosity filled the air, as they pondered the question of what lies ahead.
Over four vibrant days at Gulkula, a historic ceremonial location nestled in the stringybark forests of Gumatj Country in north-east Arnhem Land, the area was alive with the rhythm of dance, music, and engaging dialogue. Here, young voices from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities came together to discuss their journeys in higher education, entrepreneurship, diplomacy, cultural preservation, and leadership.
These young leaders spoke with confidence about their ambitions. Yet, when asked what success truly represents for them, their perspectives reached beyond conventional markers like job titles and paychecks.
Instead, their definitions of achievement encompassed deeper values: family, cultural heritage, language, respect for Elders, and a connection to their ancestral lands.
As a group of attentive children observed the discussions, Ann-Marie Long, a proud Badjala, Woppaburra, and Torres Strait Islander woman, co-founder of Sandpoppy Weaving, and part of the First Nations-led initiative EPIC Pathways, offered her thoughts on what this concept of success means to her.
“Success for us is about self-determination, being our authentic selves and in a way that we can celebrate, honour and bring many of our community to the table,” she tells SBS News.
When I win, my family wins.
But these personal reflections also raise a broader question: how do we measure progress when success is shaped by more than education, employment, and economic opportunity?
National conversations about improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have often focused on measures such as education, employment and economic participation, with a particular emphasis on youth.
Under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, one target aims to increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people aged 15 to 24 who are engaged in employment, education or training to 67 per cent by 2031. In 2021, the figure was 58 per cent.
The agreement also recognises the importance of culture, language, connection to Country and social and emotional wellbeing.
For the young people SBS News spoke with at Garma, these are not separate measures of success; they are part of the same story.
Success rooted in Country
Away from the stages and crowds at Garma, young people connect through movement, storytelling and learning — ancient practices that inform identity and culture.
For Joshua Yow Yeh, dance in particular has become a pathway back to his heritage.
The 20-year-old Yugambeh, Bundjalung, Minjungbal, Bayali, Kabi Kabi and Gooreng Gooreng man is a student at the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) dance college. He says it’s a space where he can develop his craft while reconnecting with culture and learning from Elders, both of which are key to his notion of success.
It’s one he’s still learning to define for himself.
“I think I’m coming into success. I’m finding success being here at Garma and being at NAISDA. I think that’s what I’ve defined success as, learning culture, getting knowledge from your Elders, and, you know, finding your family and all that kind of stuff,” he tells SBS News.
Nearby dancers sit on the muddy grounds in groups of two or three, adorned in white ochre, some having just performed, while others prepare for what’s ahead.
Watching the movement around him, Yow Yeh speaks about the role creativity could play in shaping his future, not only in terms of his career, but as a way to give back to the community.
“I definitely want to be at home back in my Country in Queensland, surrounded by all my community or my mob learning and then also passing on knowledge, passing on culture, tradition, sharing it with everyone,” he says.
Pursuing opportunities away from home is part of the journey, but Yow Yeh’s connection to Country remains central to his view of success.
It’s a perspective that resonates with 24-year-old Meriki Moran, a Biripi, Dunghutti and Gumbaynggirr man and diploma student at NAISDA.
As Garma wound down, people began packing up around him — loading cars and gathering belongings to leave Gulkula.
The movement around the festival grounds reflected a reality familiar to many young First Nations people: pursuing opportunities can mean leaving home, even temporarily, while finding ways to remain connected to where they come from.
Moran describes that transition as difficult.
“Moving away from your family, moving away from the people that you grew up with that you’ve known most of your life, to a whole new area with a whole new type of people that are around you. You don’t know what’s going to happen,” he tells SBS News.
But despite the challenges, Moran says he is driven by a deeper calling: to bring the knowledge and wisdom gained through his experiences back to his community
We are strong when we are together. We are strong when we know everything that we need to know about our culture, our language.
“Success to me looks like moving back home, back to Country, taking in whatever I’ve learnt from Elders from on Country, any knowledge sharing that’s being handed down to me and hopefully taking it back home so I can help teach the next generation,” Moran says.
For Asha Bhat, CEO of Southern Aboriginal Corporation, that nexus between personal and collective achievement is something she has witnessed through 18 years of working with Aboriginal communities across regional Western Australia.
She says many young people she works with do not define success only through qualifications, employment or income.
“It is about knowing who they are, staying connected to their culture and Country, supporting their families, and creating a better future for the next generation,” Bhat tells SBS News.
Success does not happen in isolation; instead, cultural connection provides a foundation from which young people can pursue education, employment, and leadership opportunities.
Culture is not separate from success. It is often the reason success becomes possible.
Defining ‘wealth’ beyond norms
For Tianie Scott-Knight, a Yankunytjatjara, Pitjantjatjara, Anmatyerre, Kamilaroi and Wiradjuri woman, success has meant building a career while staying connected to the cultural foundations that shaped her.
She works as the First Nations public diplomacy lead at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is currently on leave while studying at NAISDA. The 12-month program has given her an opportunity to reconnect with dance while following in the footsteps of her grandmother, Dorethea Randall, who was among NAISDA’s first students in 1976.
She says success begins with knowing who you are and where you come from.
I think success to me is being connected to your culture, knowing who you are and who your family is and being proud in that, and just owning your truth.
Like Yow Yeh, Scott-Knight has kept her connection to Country and her communities close, while pursuing opportunities away from home. She says her future aspirations include both professional leadership and creating opportunities for younger generations.
“I think I would be, hopefully, one day a First Nations ambassador. [I] have long-term goals to be in that position, but also I would love to see myself in a community role … uplifting my community and young ones and inspiring them,” she tells SBS News.
Her experience reflects the pathways many young First Nations people are navigating — moving through universities, workplaces and institutions while maintaining connections to family, culture and Country.
Professor Chelsea Watego, a Munanjahli and South Sea Islander woman and executive director of Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Carumba Institute, has spent more than two decades working across Indigenous research and community-focused initiatives.
She says greater access to education and employment opportunities should not be interpreted as a move away from culture or community.
It should not automatically be assumed that access equates with forgetting who we are and where we come from, or set ourselves apart from our people.
Culture is central to how many First Nations people approach their creative, academic and workplace pursuits.
Eastern Arrernte woman Tanika Anne Orr, owner of Nooks and Cooks bush food catering service, says culture has fundamentally shaped how she approaches her business.
After moving away from Country as a teenager, the now-35-year-old says forging Nooks and Cooks on Kabi Kabi Country on the Sunshine Coast became a way to reconnect with culture while building opportunities with community.
“For me, it’s not about being successful with money. I think for me, it’s more about being successful in having that wealth around you in the way of love and connection,” Orr tells SBS News.
Through her business, she hopes to share cultural knowledge and create opportunities for others.
“I really hope that my bush foods business is taking off and is employing a lot of our community.”
Carrying Country wherever they go
For many young First Nations people, pursuing education, careers and leadership opportunities can involve moving between communities, cities and regions.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, around 15 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in remote or very remote areas, where distance can shape access to services, education and employment opportunities.
On Gumatj Country, surrounded by the sounds and movement of Garma, young people spoke about these choices as part of their journeys — not as leaving one world behind, but as carrying who they are into new spaces.
Long, who runs Sandpoppy Weaving, moved away from home at 17 to study at QUT. While she remained relatively close to Country during her studies, she says she still felt the distance.
“Moving away as a young person definitely had its challenges, but bear in mind, I was only two hours away. I can only imagine the incredible sacrifices that many of our young people from remote and regional communities have to make,” she says.
At the same time, the experience also allowed her to explore new ways First Nations stories could be shared and magnified.
It was also really amazing to see the opportunities within the metropolitan areas and the ways that our stories could be told and amplified.
Long says her decisions about education, work and future opportunities are also shaped by family and ancestors. She reflects on the significance of accessing pathways that were not available to previous generations.
“My Nana was a member of the Stolen Generation. So the fact that I can be first in family to go through to Year 10 — let alone to university and pursuing my own business — that incredible privilege is not lost on me.”
A similar balancing act has shaped the journey of Willhelm Lauenstein, a Wuthathi man and Indigenous liaison officer for Royal Australian Air Force bases in Darwin and Curtin, critical northern defence facilities for the country.
While carefully painting a yidaki, a traditional Yolŋu instrument also widely known as the didgeridoo, the 32-year-old reflects on the places he has called home.
After beginning his career as an electrician and later joining the Air Force, Lauenstein has lived away from his home in Cairns, including time in Katherine and Darwin.
While distance from family has been challenging, he says, connection can also be built in new places.
“I’ve got no family here. But now I do. Now that I’ve been here and [in] community and been out and amongst it all, it’s like home, second home,” Lauenstein tells SBS News.
For him, success also carries a sense of responsibility, especially in his role working with First Nations personnel in defence.
You need to make the right decisions. You can’t really make too many wrong ones because it’s not only the Elders watching you, but it’s also the younger generation, they’re also watching you.
Defining success on their own terms
The final pillar of success that emerged from conversations at Garma is wellbeing.
Sue-Anne Hunter, national commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, says culture, language and connection to Country are central to the wellbeing and development of First Nations children and young people.
“Culture is the protective factor that keeps our children connected to their communities, to their families and to themselves,” she tells SBS News.
According to Hunter, young people today are accessing opportunities that were not available to many previous generations, while also using their voices to shape the future.
“What has changed is that this generation has more platforms, more opportunity and a voice they are willing to use, built on decades of advocacy by those who have come before them.”
No young person should have to choose between who they are and where they are going.
Across conversations with young leaders at Gulkula, one message was clear: the future was not about choosing between where they wanted to go and where they came from — it was about carrying both forward.
