Arafura Games

In 2009 Arafura Games will celebrate its 10th anniversary. The Games are now recognised as one of the Asia Pacific region's premier sporting events.

Emerging Champions

Unlike the Olympic Games or a World Championship, the Arafura Games is not an event pitched at the world's most elite athletes.  The Games is a development Games for the athletes of our region to use as a stepping stone.  As such, competition is offered to regional and development teams to mix with national teams and experience the quality of an international event.

From its humble beginnings, the Arafura Games is now recognised as a leading international sporting competition for the developing athletes of the Asia Pacific region. Held every two years in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, the Games is billed as a meeting of "Sporting Neighbours" and attracts competitors from all parts of Australia, nations throughout the Asia Pacific and beyond.

The Arafura Games' logo, with its flag motifs, was developed to represent the coming together of competitors throughout the Asia Pacific region. The region centres on the Arafura Sea, the body of water joining Northern Australia and South East Asia.

Rocky the rock wallaby first bounded onto the scene at the very first Arafura Sports Festival in 1991. Each year, he comes back better than ever. Rocky is not one to be camera shy. During the Arafura Games, Rocky appears all around Darwin and at all sporting venues providing plenty of opportunities for those special photographs.