Scripture Resources

General Language Information:

There are 4,000 Noongar people (including 14 clans and 5 dialects) living in an area covering the whole southwest corner of Western Australia, from Esperance in the south to Geraldton in the north.

Having been dominated since European invasion by racist government policies, in which children were taken away to missions and forbidden from speaking or learning their language, the Noongar people have struggled to preserve their culture.

FATSIC (Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Is-lander Languages) has identified the Noongar language ‘at risk’ of becoming extinct. As a result various projects (including translation of traditional stories and teaching resources) have been developed in recent times to encourage a resurgence of the language.

Noongar Christians have initiated a translation of the Gospel of Luke to aid in their language’s resurgence and this was completed & published in 2014 (pictured below). This is a dramatic milestone in the history of printed Noongar texts, both sacred and secular. The Noongar Gospel is set in parallel with the English, a glossary of Noongar words runs beneath the text and there are ten pages devoted to the grammar and syntax of the Noongar language, thus aiding in the language’s preservation.