By The Bible Society
When Jessie Murrargirrargi walked into Friday night fellowship in Milingimbi, an island off the north coast of Central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, she carried her Bible and the translation work she had been developing through the Certificate II Bible Translation course at Darwin’s Nungalinya College, from which she had recently graduated.
She had no idea she was about to be asked to preach.
Still grieving the sudden loss of two close family members that week, Jessie felt completely unprepared.
But when she stood and read her freshly drafted Gupapuyngu translation of John 1, something remarkable happened.
The room fell silent.
”THOSE ARE GOD’S WORDS”
Listeners were stunned. “Those are not your words — they are God’s words,” they told her.
“It is not a human speaking. We can feel God speaking to us through those words. It is so powerful.”
Jessie, who taught primary school for 40 years before retiring, had worked carefully on her translation and read it slowly to ensure clarity.
What she shared that evening was Scripture in her own language, Gupapuyngu.
WHY LANGUAGE IS SO IMPORTANT TO INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS
It’s a language spoken by several hundred people and understood by thousands more across Arnhem Land.
While many from Jessie’s community can read Djambarrpuyngu, it is not their own language.
Hearing God’s Word in Gupapuyngu reached their hearts in a way nothing else could.
It is the language of the Gaykamangu clan, Jessie’s clan, her father’s language.
WHY JESSIE’S TRANSLATION HAD SUCH A POSITIVE IMPACT
David Crawford, a former teacher at Nungalinya College in the Bible Translation course, explained why Jessie’s Gupapuyngu translation had such an impact.
“A Yolngu person’s official language is always their father’s,” he said.
“So Scripture in Father Tongue Language is huge in Yolngu culture.”
Although Djambarrpuyngu is widely used, and has a New Testament translation, many people whose father’s language is not Djambarrpuyngu refuse to use it and instead turn to English.
JESSIE WAS MENTORED BY MISSIONARY WHO TAUGHT ABOUT THE BIBLE IN LOCAL INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE
The morning after the fellowship, Jessie called David, still uplifted by what had happened.
She reminisced about her teenage years, remembering how she would run with her sister to church after school for choir practice with missionary educator Beulah Lowe.
David added that Jessie often speaks of Beulah.
This memory is deeply significant.
THE LEGACY OF BEULAH LOWE
In the 1950s, Beulah Lowe was sent to North‑East Arnhem Land by the Methodist Overseas Mission.
She learned Gupapuyngu and worked alongside Yolngu educators to guide children in learning “in and through their own language.”
Beulah played a foundational role in early Gupapuyngu literacy and Scripture engagement, including translating the Gospel of Mark, which became a primary text for the community.
WHY MORE INDIGENOUS BIBLE TRANSLATORS LIKE JESSIE ARE NEEDED
For Jessie, who grew up in that environment, Beulah’s influence was part of the soil in which her own love for the Word — and her later calling as a translator — took root.
As Jessie stood before her community and read John 1 in Gupapuyngu, her life had been shaped by elders, teachers and language champions, and finally, the Certificate II in Bible Translation at Nungalinya College.
Today, Jessie is part of a Gupapuyngu translation team working on a new translation of the New Testament, with a shared hope of publishing the Gospel of Mark again for a new generation.
Jessie’s story shows why Bible translation training is so urgently needed.
ONLY ONE OF 120 INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES STILL SPOKEN HAS A COMPLETE BIBLE TRANSLATION
Across Australia, more than 120 Indigenous languages are still spoken, yet only Kriol has a complete written Bible — and very soon, a complete audio Bible.
More than 50 Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages have portions of Scripture, New Testaments, or storybooks translated.
Bible Society Australia’s partnership with Nungalinya College helps equip emerging translators like Jessie to bring God’s Word to their communities in the language that speaks to their hearts.
They are among seven Bible agencies that run a collaborative resource including a website, under the names of Australian Bibles and the Scriptures for Australian Indigenous Languages (SAIL) committee.
THE CURRENT STATE OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES
it is estimated that over 250 distinct languages were once spoken in Australia which has suffered one of the highest and fastest rates of language loss in the world.
According to the latest Census, just over 150 languages or dialects are still remembered today, with many critically endangered.
Around 40-50 languages are still used in daily life.
By providing the material on the Australian Bibles website, indigenous Bible translation stakeholders hope to encourage interest and value in keeping indigenous languages alive.
THE STATE OF INDIGENOUS SCRIPTURE TRANSLATION
Since over half the speakers of indigenous Australian languages identify as Christian, this website focuses on providing access to historical and current published translations of the Holy Bible or portions thereof.
When no scripture has been published in a language, but drafts exist, some of these have been posted with a caveat.
IN SUMMARY:
- 59 Indigenous languages have some part of the Bible.
- 15 have complete New Testaments, eight of which also have several Old Testament books.
- 21 languages have at least one complete book of the Bible, usually a Gospel.
- 26 other languages have at least one verse of Scripture translated, 11 of which have at least a whole chapter.
- 17 languages have at least one complete book of the Bible recorded in audio format.
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