Senior Yolngu leaders said they have grown old waiting for Indigenous constitutional recognition.
“How long do we have to wait to get this right?,” Djawa Yunuping said.
A proposal put forward for an Indigenous advisory body in parliament, enshrined in the Constitution, was rejected by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last year.
Mr Yunuping, a senior Gumatj clan leader and Deputy Chair of the Yothu Yindi Foundation, said his brother, Galarrwuy, cried when he heard the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a signed declaration of hundreds of First Nations people, was rejected by Mr Turnbull.
"So can we blame him for crying when the Uluru Statement is read to him and he knows it has been rejected?" Djawa Yunupingu said, reminding members of the audience that his brother has seen eight prime ministers come and go.
“This man has led us and kept us strong and safe and proud and done this not just for us, but for the nation."
Mr Yunupingu said for too long Australia has not been united as a nation and that non-Indigenous people have enjoyed its ‘second sovereignty’ at the expense of the Aboriginal people.
“The truth is that many of you have lived your lives enjoying this second sovereignty while we, the First People, from all points of the southern sky, have suffered,” he says.
“This sovereignty was not enjoyed by my people and it was put upon us by force and by fear of the superior power of the British people.”
He urged non-Indigenous Australians and politicians to work with Indigenous leaders for constitutional recognition.
"Let's see if together we can find a pathway where we can all be included in the nation's Constitution."
Indigenous voice in parliament a 'life or death' matter
Cape York leader Noel Pearson said the rejection of the Uluru Statement by an "ordinary person" like Malcolm Turnbull would not stop campaigners from continuing to advocate for an Indigenous advisory body in parliament.
“This is about existence of people in the future. This is about self determination – not of the individual but of the tribe,” he said.
Noel Pearson at the Garma Festival. Source: AAP
Aboriginal people's presence in Australia for 60,000 years gave them a moral and historical right to an independent advisory body, Mr Pearson told the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land on Saturday.
"If the Prime Minister tells you 'no, it can't be done', what do you do? Say, 'okay, you must be right'? You can't be like that, you can't be that weak," he said.
Recognising First Nations people in the constitution was a priority that needed to happen for a foundation before a treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians could occur, he said.
"You have got to be pinned down in the most fundamental law of the nation where power resides. Without it we'll get pushed around, without it the question will be deferred once again."
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