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Our Mission
Welcome to the Scriptures for Australian Indigenous Languages (SAIL) collaboration. We are a group of Australian Bible agencies working together to support Bible translation, Scripture engagement, and associated training across Australia. We work with Indigenous communities in planning various workshops, and recruiting and supporting translation facilitators, trainees and advisors in their various locations. The collaboration emphasizes cross-cultural competency, relationship building, and logistical support for all of our respective staff.
Currently, our group is exploring funding opportunities, evaluating community needs and requests, and training future Indigenous translators and Scripture engagement workers. We are also developing systems and resources for remote distribution to ensure needs are met and sustained engagement with Indigenous communities is maintained.
We are endeavouring to make available all the indigenous Scriptures that we have collectively produced. Hence under each language in the languages tab you will find links to what we so far made available. Some of this was previously only available in print or audio, but is now available digitally in alternate formats. Our goal is to make as many Christian resources in Australian Indigenous languages available as possible and more is being added every year.
Prior to the arrival of European settlement, it is estimated that over 250 distinct languages were spoken on the Australian continent. Australia 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 of these being critically endangered. Around 40-50 languages are still used in daily life. By providing the material on this site, we hope to encourage interest and value in keeping Indigenous languages alive from Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike.
Our language is like a pearl inside a shell.
The shell is like the people that carry the language.
If our language is taken away, then that would be like a pearl that is gone.
We would be like an empty oyster shell.
– Yurranydjil Dhurrkay, Galiwin’ku, North East Arnhem Land
Since over half of speakers of Indigenous Australian languages identify as Christian, this site 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 as we wish as much material as possible to be made accessible and available. Scriptures are posted here with permission of the copyright holders. Some materials may also be published here for the first time. You are free to read, download, and share the material posted on this site according to the terms given in each Bible’s copyright information page.
Bible Statistics: 59 Indigenous languages have some part of the Bible today.
- 1 language has the whole Bible (Kriol).
- 15 other languages have complete New Testaments, 8 of which also have several Old Testament books.
- Another 21 languages have at least one complete book of the Bible, usually a Gospel.
- And 26 other languages have at least one verse of Scripture translated, 11 of which have at least a whole chapter.
Of these, 17 languages have at least one complete book of the Bible recorded in audio format.
Acknowledgement to country
We acknowledge the First Nations people as the traditional custodians of this land. We pay respect to all First Nations people, and we recognise and respect the rich heritage of language, culture and knowledge which has been passed down through the generations on this land. We acknowledge God as the creator of this beautiful land, and are thankful for the First Nations people who have cared for this creation with respect. We pray that God would lead all Australians down the path of reconciliation as we strive to live together in unity and harmony.