Yothu Yindi Foundation chief executive Denise Bowden told the crowd at Australia's largest Indigenous cultural gathering, the result of October's referendum had been soul-crushing.
"Our ancestors made us strong, intelligent, determined people and we have needed all of these qualities as we experienced the referendum result," she said.
Indigenous people have 'needed their strength and determination' to deal with the failed referendum. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
Yothu Yindi chair Djawa Yunupingu said when he spoke at the 2023 Garma Festival he was determined his people would have a voice in the Australian constitution the following year.
That was not to be, with the push for an Indigenous voice to parliament defeated - but Mr Yunupingu said despite this hurt, his people choose to look to the future.
"Yolngu people are not dismissed by a single event," he said at Gulkula in northeast Arnhem Land on Saturday morning .
Gumatj leader Djawa Yunupingu says Yolngu people know that after the fire comes renewal. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
"The land is timeless and powerful, it remains and we remain and I stand here today to tell you we will renew ourselves, not tomorrow, but today."
"We sought a path to unity and we still seek it, we know that after the fire comes renewal and that goodness rises in the country after the fire has burned through the country."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made his own reflections about the referendum when he addressed the Garma crowd, saying "we gave our all. And we fell short".
But the Prime Minister told the crowd on Saturday morning, he did not return to Garma to talk about what might have been.
Instead Mr Albanese took the opportunity to speak about a new focus for Indigenous affairs, economic empowerment for First Nations people.
The Prime Minister said his optimism for the future 'still burned' after the referendum's failure. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
He announced a First Nations Economic Partnership with the Coalition of Peaks, and a $20 million investment to build the Garma Institute, a tertiary education centre owned and run by Yolngu people.
"I have not come back to this place of fire, to rake through the ashes," he said.
"I am here because my optimism for a better future still burns.
"We can be a country where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have power over their destiny."
Mr Albanese said it is possible to confront the legacy of dispossession and disadvantage for Indigenous people and close the gap, but it will require a new path.
"We are living with what's been tried before," he said.
"We know where the old models take us, we know where the old road leads.
"We have to make a new path - and walk it together."
