THE 20th annual National Indigenous Tertiary Education Student Games were contested at The Forum on Thursday.
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The four-day event was open to the public as part of the Festival of Sport, a Hunter Academy of Sport initiative held every year during the winter school holidays.
As custodians of the event, the University of Newcastle hosts the games every five years.
This year it coincided with the festival.
They were the biggest games in history, attracting more than 450 indigenous students and staff from 22 universities around Australia.
Twenty-eight teams competed in touch football, volleyball, netball and basketball.
Newcastle's home teams won the touch football final, 8-2 against the University of Sydney, and the netball final, 15-11 against Melbourne University.
However, Melbourne made a swift comeback in the volleyball final, holding off Murdoch University in a fast-paced match to win 30-24.
Deakin University defeated Newcastle 17-10 in the basketball final.
Derek Kinchela is the student engagement co-ordinator at the University of Newcastle's Wollotuka Institute and helped organise the event.
He said the games were a perfect opportunity for indigenous students to get together and celebrate their sporting achievements.
"It's good we're attracting Aboriginal students from across the country [to the games]," he said.