The Warumungu are the original landowners of the town of Tennant Creek and its surrounding area. They have maintained their language and much of their culture despite considerable pressures, including the Overland Telegraph Line being built over their land in 1872; a gold rush and the influx of settlers into Tennant Creek in the 1930s; and the construction of the Stuart Highway right through their country in the 1940s.
While young people are starting to speak more Warumungu, they mainly speak Wumparrani English. Wumparrani English is a combination of Aboriginal English and Warumungu. (Wumparrani means “people” in Warumungu.)
Warumungu leaders have recently sparked a revival of their language, including by translating the Easter story and the Christmas story into their language. A language app for children to use in school is also supporting wider use of the Warumungu language among younger generations. With the resurgence of language comes a stronger sense of self-worth and dignity among the young people.
Their proximity to schools in Tennant Creek provides the Warumungu children with the opportunity for a good education. However, sporadic class attendance and various social challenges undermine the quality of the children’s learning. Nonetheless, some have learnt to read and write in English and Warumungu.
Like many other Australian Aboriginal people groups, the Warumungu have a highly sophisticated kinship system that prevents the marriage of close relatives. This is particularly important in a small population.
Warumungu people mostly attend the local AIM (Australian Indigenous Ministries) church and the Tennant Creek Christian Family Church, a local Pentecostal church. Members from both churches have been involved in recent efforts to translate portions of Scripture into their language.
Other churches in Tennant Creek include the Catholic, Uniting, and Anglican churches, and some Warumungu may attend these churches.
The Warumungu world view also continues to include aspects of animism. For example, missionaries are seen as possessing secret powers. Their prayers are sought because it is assumed that God cannot refuse them.
Despite some early progress in Bible translation, the Warumungu people have very little of the Bible in their language. The lead translator of the Easter and Christmas stories is a very respected man in all parts of the local community, but he is extremel
Pray for a hunger for the Word of God!
Pray for strong support across all Tennant Creek churches and from all ethnic backgrounds for the work of Bible translation for the Warumungu Aboriginal people, and for other local Aboriginal groups. It is so difficult to understand God’s Word in an unfamiliar language.
Give thanks for the Warumungu leaders who led the translation of the Easter and Christmas stories into their indigenous language. Pray for their health and that young people will rise up and follow their examples.
Ask the Lord to send workers who can come alongside the Warumungu people and support their Bible translation work.
Pray that a disciple making movement will spread through the families of the Warumungu people and others in the Tennant Creek area. This is particularly difficult in the kinship system where there are social constraints on who can disciple who. Pray for God’s Spirit to cleverly guide his people through these constraints.
Thank God that Global Recordings Network has recorded some Bible teaching in Warumungu.
Scripture Prayers for the Warumungu in Australia.
Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2025. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-eighth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.
David Blackman, Wycliffe Bible Translators (personal communication), 9-10 April 2025.
| Profile Source: Joshua Project |
