The Bible Society in Australia is part of an international network of more than 140 Bible societies working in more than 200 countries. Each Society has responsibility for translation, publication and distribution of Bibles in their own country, and contributes in various ways to projects in other countries. Publications take the format of print, electronic, audio or video, and range from complete Bibles to just a few paragraphs in a leaflet.
In Australia this work is known as Indigenous Scripture Support (ISS). It is overseen by a committee composed of the CEOs of each State Bible Society who ascertain the needs and approve the budget. The actual work of ISS is coordinated by the Northern Territory Outback Ministry (NTOM) of the Bible Society. Based in Darwin, the Director of NTOM liaises with mission partners and Indigenous people, gathering information as he travels to the communities. He liaises with Translation Support Officers, based in Adelaide, South Australia, who bring the projects through to fruition.
There are two aspects of the work
1) In Indigenous Scripture Production we assist translation projects to make effective progress to completion and subsequently ensure availability of the translated Scriptures in printed and other formats. This includes assisting translators with the acquisition of special Bible Translation software and training in their use. The Bible Society also employs Translation Consultants who are involved at the grass-roots level, enabling translation to take place.
2) In Indigenous Scripture in Use we engage with Mission Partners and Indigenous Christians in the development of Bible-based resources that will assist Aboriginal and Islander people to engage with the Scriptures in the language they understand best.
The Bible Society is involved in more than 16 translation projects in Australia and many more in the Asia-Pacific region, including Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Mongolia. Some of these projects are complete Bibles with book introductions, footnotes, cross-references, subtitles (section headings), maps, illustrations and glossaries. Others are smaller, first-time translations of a few Bible books.
Some of the projects ISS is currently involved with in Australia include the Alyawarr Mini Bible (NT), the Nyoongar Gospel of Luke (WA), the Wubuy New Testament (NT), Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole), plus a range of resources for Outback Children and Youth in several languages.
|
 |
