David grew up in Sydney but his first job was in Alice Springs, Northern Territory (NT), which allowed him to visit schools in many isolated Aboriginal communities. He later worked in Canberra at the National Library of Australia. He joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1990, and was assigned to work amongst the Alyawarr people of Central Australia.
David married Marie Geytenbeek in 1996. They worked in an Aboriginal community of about 150 Alyawarr people called Wetenngerr [WOO ten nger a], which is on Epenarra Station, a cattle property of 2,658 sq km. The nearest town is Tennant Creek (NT), 220km by road to the northwest. Alice Springs is 550km by road to the southwest. Marie passed away in December 2004. After that, David and their sons, Paul and Simon, moved to Alice Springs. The boys are now studying in Adelaide.
Support David Blackman in the Bible Translation Movement
Latest Updates from David Blackman
20 November 2022
The consultant check of Ruth and Revelation 15-22 was completed last week.
In the new year, David will start preparing a new edition of Angka Mwerr-angker, the Alyawarr mini-Bible. It’s not so ‘mini’ any more, as it will contain about 11% of the Old Testament and 82% of the New Testament.
David is hoping to return to editing the script for the video of Luke 1-18 in the new year, as well as to make audio recordings of 1&2 Peter and Ruth.
He plans to ‘retire’ in August 2023, and will be taking unfinished projects with him!
15 February 2022
An audio recording has been made of 1&2 Timothy. The 1&2 Peter consultant check has been done semi-remotely, and is almost complete. The consultant check of Revelation 1-14 is now under way. Chapters 15-22 need another draft, before back translating into English in preparation for a consultant check.
Kerry did the first draft of Ruth in 2021, and Eileen the second draft. David is hoping Roxanne or Derek will do the third draft.
When these books are fully checked, David will begin preparing a new edition of Angka Mwerr-angker, the Alyawarr mini-Bible. It’s not so ‘mini’ any more, as it will contain about 12% of the Old Testament and 82% of the New.
David is hoping to return to editing the script for the video of Luke 1-18 later this year, as well as to make an audio recording of 1&2 Peter.
16 March 2021
1 & 2 Timothy were consultant checked in 2020 and are circulating informally. 1 & 2 Peter are currently being consultant checked. Kerry is working with David on the back translation of chapters 1-9 of Revelation, third-drafted by Eileen. Derek has done the second draft to chapter 14, and David hopes to revise chapters 15-22 with him soon. The first draft of chapters 15-18 was done by Kaye and 18-22 by Vicki.
David has postponed work on editing the script for the video of Luke 1-18 for now. He has responsibility for the editing and publication of the Pintupi-Luritja Dictionary, a language David doesn’t speak! It is a very comprehensive volume compiled by retired colleagues Ken and Lesley Hansen.
27 February 2020
The Alyawarr to English Dictionary was launched on 8 November 2019 and has been well received.
The Luke Easter video (chapters 18-24) on USB stick is beginning to circulate. This has also been well received, and comments are being made about people understanding the story for the first time.
1&2 Timothy and 1&2 Peter are in (near) final draft form, and will hopefully be consultant-checked soon. I am hoping Kerry will do the back translation (a literal version back to English, to send to the translation consultant).
The first draft of Revelation is finished (by Vicki, to chapter 22), with the second draft done to chapter 14 (Derek) and the third draft to chapter 9 (Eileen).
I am currently preparing the edited script for the video of Luke 1-18. The script and video timings are set for English, which uses fewer than half the number of words Alyawarr needs to use. So it is a demanding editing job. Vicki is checking my edited text to ensure it still flows.
21 January 2019
10 January 2019
The Alyawarr to English Dictionary has finally been typeset and is hopefully with the printer.
The Alyawarr script for the Passion episodes of the Luke video was recorded in October 2018.
1 Timothy is in second draft. 2 Timothy and 1 & 2 Peter are in first draft. Hopefully they will all be ready for consultant checking by the end of 2019.
The next translation project is to finish Revelation, which has been on hold for some years now. It is first-drafted to chapter 18 and second-drafted to chapter 14.
01 March 2018
1 March 2018
The first draft of 2 Timothy is currently up to ch. 2 v. 23 (with Eileen). The second draft of 1 Timothy is at ch. 4 v. 21 (with Vicki).
The first draft of 1 Samuel for the Plain English Version (formerly known as the Simplified English Version, SEV) is currently up to ch. 19 v. 12.
Currently reading through the first proofs of the Alyawarr to English Dictionary.
10 October 2017
The first draft of 1 Timothy is currently up to ch. 5 v. 16 (with Eileen) and the second draft is at ch. 4 v. 6 (with Vicki).
The first draft of 1 Samuel for the Aboriginal Translator’s Version (ATV, formerly known as the Simplified English Version, SEV) is currently up to ch. 15 v. 13.
Thanks for your patience...