The Catholic Leader - July 2

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The Catholic Leader, July 2, 2017
News
AUSTRALIA’S national diving squad has welcomed emerging
diver Alysha Koloi (pictured) to the team only two years after
transferring into the sport.
The Year 10 San Sisto College student and former elite
gymnast qualified for the national junior squad earlier
this month with just two years’ of training under her
belt. She said jumping on the springboard into a
pool rather than a gym floor was only possible
with 11 years of gymnastics training.
“After eleven years of gymnastic training, I
was able to quickly enhance my already devel-
oped aerial awareness, strength and work ethnic
to put me in good stead for diving,” she said.
Ms Koloi placed eighth in the Australian Open
Championships’ three-metre springboard event, a per-
formance that helped her qualify for the national team.
She also placed sixth in the finals for the one-metre spring-
board event.
Ms Koloi’s place on the national team means she is now eligi-
ble to compete in international competitions like the Common-
wealth Games and The World Series, but she has her eyes set on
the Olympic Games.
“As I am still very new to the sport, I hope to advance in the
rankings and prove myself in the world of diving arena,”
she said.
“I aspire to hopefully one day compete in an
Olympic Games event, which will definitely be a
long and hard road, but I am looking forward to the
challenge.”
As someone who successfully moved into a new
sport, Ms Koloi said her advice to other people con-
sidering being a diver was “to give it a go”.
“You never know what you are capable of until you
try it,” she said.
“It is okay to make mistakes, everybody does, and as I’m still
learning, it is how you come back from them that determines
whether you break or become a stronger and better person in and
out of the pool.”
Tap talent: Year 10 San Sisto College student and former elite
gymnast Alysha Koloi has qualified for the National Junior
squad in diving.
Alysha’s diving deeper for gold
God’s Word transforming lives in remote East Arnhem Land
Journey of faith shared
God’s word:
Director and
Bible transla-
tor Yurrany-
djil Dhurrkay
displays
Djam-
barrpuyngu
New Testa-
ment.
By Mark Bowling
A NEW documentary takes a fas-
cinating look at how the Bible has
been translated into the indigenous
language of the Yolngu People on
Elcho Island in the Northern Terri-
tory’s remote East Arnhem Land.
In Our Yolngu Journey of Faith, there are
poignant moments of faith, joy and deeper un-
derstanding that transform lives.
Translator and documentary director Yurra-
nydjil Dhurrkay tells of an old man who, when
hearing the scriptures for the first time in his
own Yolngu language sheds tears of joy and de-
clares, “Oh, beloved Lord, I can hear you speak
to me in my language. I can understand you”.
Queensland filmmaker and producer Matt
Blyth, who is a regular parishioner at St Teresa’s
Church, Ravenshoe, has spent years working
with Aboriginal people to produce documenta-
ries in Arnhem Land and understands the cus-
toms and landscapes of this region of Australia
far from the southern cities.
“It was an enormous challenge working across
four languages and trying to access rare footage
and photographs,” Mr Blyth said.
“There were many Red Sea moments when we
felt we couldn’t go backwards, and it was hard
to go forwards – but with faith and trust we did.”
This is an uplifting documentary tracing how, in
a small community, a group of Aboriginal Chris-
tians have spent decades dedicating themselves to
translating the Bible for their own people in their
own Yolngu language and dialects, spreading the
faith and preserving their Yolngu culture.
Drawing on rich archival footage, the story of
Our Yolngu Journey of Faith starts with the ar-
rival in the 1950s of Beulah Lowe, a missionary
and linguist.
She was sent to the Elcho Island community
of Galiwin’ku by the Methodist Overseas Mis-
sion, learnt the language of the Yolngu people
and documented it to produce the first written
record of the language, Yolngu Matha.
Her lifelong dedication to translating the New
Testament into Yolngu, in co-operation with
other translators, represents the heart of her
many significant contributions to the commu-
nity – not least of which are the language-based
resources she developed to assist staff in East
Arnhem Land to learn Yolngu Matha.
After the mission closed in 1974, Ms Lowe
worked for the Aboriginal Advisory and Devel-
opment Services until 1978, meticulously docu-
menting the people’s traditions and language in
consultation with numerous clan members.
Over time her Bible translation work expand-
ed to include other Yolngu languages, including
Gupapuyngu, Gälpu, Gumatj, Wangurri and
Djambarrpuyngu.
It is difficult for English speakers to imagine
a time when no English translations of the Bible
existed.
When William Tyndale’s printed English
translation of the Latin Bible was published in
1534, all Church services were conducted in
Latin, a language understood mainly by clergy
and scholars.
As the documentary reveals, being able to read
and hear the New Testament in their own lan-
guage has been transformative for the Yolngu.
Ricky Gurruwiwi speaks of his personal
redemptive experience catalysed by reading the
New Testament in Yolngu language.
In the words of translator Wänggarr: “I am
grateful and thankful for the translation team
choosing me.
“I’ll be doing it for the rest of my life because
I love it. Not ‘like’ it. Love it.”
Our Yolngu Story of Faith, a groundbreaking
documentary about Yolngu language, Yolngu
faith and Yolngu culture, will premiere on NITV
on July 3.
It will also be available for viewing on SBS
On Demand.
Faith production: Director and Bible translator Yurranydjil Dhurrkay, producer Matt Blyth
and Bible translator Djawut Gondarra.
Faith ceremony: (Left) A ceremony celebrating the launch of the 1994 Djambarrpuyngu
mini Bible.