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History

The Bible Society Movement in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific

Just 13 years after the commencement of the British and Foreign Bible Society in London in 1804, the first Auxiliary in the Pacific was inaugurated at the instigation of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in Sydney on March 7, 1817.

The Bible Society movement in New Zealand was founded at Auckland in 1848, with further development at Wellington the same year.

In recent years new Bible Societies have been established in the South Pacific with headquarters in Suva, Fiji and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

The first complete book of the Bible to be published in any language of this area was a gospel in Tahitian, printed in 1818. The first translation actually printed in Australasia was inspired by the President of the Bible Society in Sydney, the Rev. Samuel Marsden, for Church Missionary Society workers in New Zealand; the publication in 1827 was of Scripture selections in Maori.

Today Scripture translation in the Pacific area including Australia forms part of the United Bible Societies' translation effort in the Asia Pacific Region; and projects in around 90 languages are being guided by Translation Consultants based at Canberra in Australia, Mount Hagen in PNG, Suva in Fiji, and Guam. Translation work is carried on by mainly national translators in the various countries.

Since its beginnings in Australia in 1817 the Bible Society has played a leading role in supplying the Scriptures to churches, groups, individuals and communities both within Australia and beyond.  Originally known as the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Bible Society evolved into an organisation skilled in translation, (especially in Aboriginal and Pacific Island languages) and the production, printing and distribution of the Scriptures.

As an interdenominational organisation it conducts its mission free of any doctrinal or theological position. The Society is held in high esteem by church and Christian agencies. The Society’s donors help support projects and programs throughout the world.

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