Lily Neville, an 80-year-old Adnyamathanha translator, has found herself distributing Bible engagement resources in her language faster than she can request them from Bible Society. Just before Christmas 2024, Lily received 23 boxes of resources, and her daughter took them to a funeral to distribute to family and friends … returning with only two boxes!

When they saw the Bible resources in Adnyamathanha, Lily’s family “went crazy for them” and asked her daughter, “Where can we get more of these?” They found the Bible Storybooks in Adnyamathanha so easy to read. These booklets have been translated from the series illustrated by Kees de Kort and published by Bible Society Australia.

Lily’s cousin Rev. Denise Champion is also using the Adnyamathanha Bible engagement resources from Bible Society. Denise meets with a group of Adnyamathanha speakers every month on a Saturday morning at a church in Port Augusta and they read the books together. She reports that the books are ‘really good’ for their language work. These translations by Lily are helping them revive their language. Louise Sherman, Head of Bible Society Australia’s Australian Languages Team, says, “This is something Lily and I have been praying for [for] a long time.” As Denise is also looking for audio resources for the group, Louise has arranged to send her the recordings of Lily reading the stories in Adnyamathanha, so they can listen to them as a group.

Because so many Indigenous Australians are Christians, the Scriptures are important to them. Bible Society’s Maryanne Cameron is working to create Bible engagement resources in Indigenous languages, particularly those which help develop literacy among Indigenous communities.

“The Christians in those communities are so eager for resources, and if possible, in their own language. Even if they don’t find it easy to read their own language, they still persevere so that “Where can we get more of these?” Bible Engagement Resources in High Demand in Indigenous Communities they keep their language, culture and spirituality alive. For those Indigenous people whose first language is English, the Plain English Version resources are very much appreciated!”

Maryanne drafted some resources and took them up to North Queensland to show those she met with. “They just loved them,” Maryanne reports.

“I came back with nothing because they wanted my drafts, the printouts I’d made at home … they were so hungry for the Plain English resources which were something that they could read that they related to … all the illustrations are of Indigenous people, and that was something that they really liked.”

The people of Wujal Wujal an Aboriginal community north of Cairns, speak their traditional language of Kuku-Yalanji as well as English. The New Testament in Kuku-Yalanji was dedicated in the 1980s, and Maryanne found that the people are very keen to read Scriptures in their own language. It was this desire that prompted her to create a simple bilingual booklet with illustrations of Aboriginal people and verses of encouragement in both Kuku-Yalanji and Plain English. She printed 10 of these little booklets and took them on her visit. “Whenever I hesitantly showed one of these bilingual booklets, people’s faces lit up, some of them nearly cried, and every single one of them was overjoyed to see their language in an attractive, reader friendly format.”

A storybook for the Kuku-Yalanji, God’s Words for Life When You Feel Worried, is ready to be published in 2025, as well as 15 other Bible engagement booklets (colouring books and storybooks) in nine languages.

To support the development and distribution of more Bible engagement resources, visit biblesociety.org.au/sow.