Gumatj Corporation operations manager, Michael Yunupingu outlined his aims for the region's Yolngu people during his remarks at the annual Garma Festival in northeast Arnhem Land.
"My vision is to see a place that provides all-round support for Yolngu, in employment, education, health and wellbeing, and cultural laws," Mr Yunupingu, who is the grandson of the late Gumatj leader Dr Galarrwuy Yunupingu, said.
"Our next generation of leaders must step up now and carry on the legacy into a world that is transitioning into a new future, a new era."
Students and teachers from Dhupuma Barker School, Yirrkala School, and Laynhapuy Homelands School spoke about their students' achievements, the importance of learning on Country and being informed by both cultural and western education models.
Dhupuma Barker students also treated the audience to a song.
The presentations formed part of the festival's education forum, billed as an important discussion for Yolngu people each year.
Mr Yunupingu said while his vision for the future is focused on the next generation, it must "stand like a rock against time", and cannot be achieved without acknowledging and remembering those who came before.
"We carry a clear vision for our future and lands, one that remains with us for generations even as others move on," he said.
Garma Festival is marking 25 years in 2025, and the theme, "rom ga waŋa wataŋu", or "the law of the land, standing firm", pays homage to those who started the event.
"This year is a real acknowledgement and a proper nod to the Yunupingu brothers who had some pretty large ideas for the Garma Festival," Yothu Yindi Foundation chief executive Denise Bowden told AAP.
"Many of us had some catching up to do when we realised what they had created because now it's a nationally iconic event attracting 3500 people each year to a very remote location."
Ms Bowden said the 2025 Garma theme reflects the Yolngu fight for empowerment and land rights.
The most recent example of this fight was in March, when the High Court upheld a Federal Court decision that found the Gumatj clan's Country in northeast Arnhem Land was not acquired "on just terms" before being leased to the Swiss-Australian mining consortium Nabalco in 1968.
"A lot of cultural elements and deeply ingrained beliefs of culture still exist here," Ms Bowden said.
"You hear it in the language, you hear it in the songs, you hear it in the dance and the law of the land."
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