People standing hand in hand at a coastal sunset beneath flowing dot artwork, with an eagle overhead

Indigenous Translations

About

Communication grounded in people and context.

Indigenous Translations is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language communications and multimedia business specialising in making important information accessible across languages, cultures and communities.

Founded in 2014, the business has delivered multilingual communication projects across government, business, media and community sectors, coordinating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language specialists, translators, interpreters, voice artists and creative production partners across Australia.

Our work has included translation, voice-over, subtitling, film, animation, television, radio, digital publishing, web and print communication. Projects have addressed areas including electoral participation, health and aged care, disability, justice, taxation, disaster recovery and access to digital government services.

Indigenous Translations was founded on a simple principle: effective communication is more than translating words. It requires understanding people, language, culture, context and the way information is experienced.

Due to the highly specialised nature of our services and the experience developed over more than a decade, Indigenous Translations now operates as a selective practice, working primarily with a small number of established clients while continuing to support specialised projects where there is a strong fit.

What We Delivered

Across language, media and public communication.

Translation & Language Communication

Film, Animation & Video

Voice-over & Subtitling

Digital & Print Publishing

Community & Stakeholder Communication

Multimedia Campaign Production

Selected Government Work

Campaigns and public information.

Selected work across essential public information. Temporary editorial imagery is clearly marked until approved campaign photography is supplied.

Film camera capturing an Australian coastal landscape — AEC multilingual film campaign

Australian Electoral Commission

Multilingual Electoral Participation Communication

Electoral ParticipationAudiovisual36 videos · 12 languages

Multilingual audiovisual communication supporting electoral participation and voting information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

View Project & Videos

Australian Government — Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission

First Nations Aged Care Resources

Aged Care5 LanguagesTranslation + Voice-over

Indigenous Translations provided First Nations language translations and voice-overs across five languages for information sheets and animated resources supporting the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s First Nations aged-care communications, delivered in collaboration with 26 Letters | Communications and Public Relations.

View First Nations Resources

Published Australia's Disability Strategy animation on the Disability Gateway First Nations languages page

Australian Government / Disability Gateway · Delivered for 2M Language Services

Australia's Disability Strategy — First Nations Language Animations

Animation design & production3 animations · 6 First Nations languages

Designed and produced three animations across six First Nations languages to support accessible communication of Australia's Disability Strategy, delivered for 2M Language Services.

Watch Animations

Authentic Eastside Kriol and Tiwi tsunami preparedness posters produced for Northern Territory communities

Preparing Australian Communities — Local Stream

Disaster Resilience & Hazard Preparedness

10 languages · 131 translation deliverables32 factsheets · 55 posters · 44 voice-over deliverables

A major grant-funded multilingual disaster preparedness campaign delivering accessible hazard and recovery information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the Northern Territory and Queensland.

View Project

Authentic Queensland Government Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander domestic and family violence campaign artwork produced in language

Queensland Government · Department of Justice and Attorney-General

Domestic & Family Violence Resources

JusticeCommunity Resources

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander domestic and family violence information resources.

View Project

Australian Taxation Office

Tax Help — Indigenous Language Communication

Taxation10 LanguagesCommunity Access

Translation and communication campaign supporting access to the Australian Taxation Office Tax Help service, delivered across 10 languages.

View Project

Authentic myGov 'Create a myGov account' project screen showing my.gov.au and Australian Government member service branding

Australian Government — Department of Human Services

National Indigenous myGov Pilot Program

15 language translationsWritten + audio communicationDigital government access

Early digital-government communication pilot exploring written and audio First Nations language communication to support access to myGov information.

View Project

SBS On Demand video player for Barrumbi Kids with the subtitle-selection menu open, showing First Nations language subtitle options including Wik-Mungkan, Pitjantjatjara, Eastside Kriol, Torres Strait Creole and Warlpiri

SBS · Broadcast & Streaming

First Nations Subtitling for SBS On Demand

Indigenous Translations provided First Nations language subtitle services for SBS On Demand across Barrumbi Kids Season 1, True Colours Season 1 and Her Name Is Nanny Nellie — comprising 14 television episodes and one documentary, with 55 episode-language subtitle deliveries across the three programs.

3 programs14 television episodes + 1 documentary55 First Nations subtitle deliveriesSBS On Demand

Audiences can toggle the First Nations language subtitles on and off directly within the SBS On Demand player. Indigenous Translations is credited for First Nations language subtitle services — not the production of the programs themselves.

Selected Work

Other Selected Campaigns

01Coalition of Peaks · National Communication

National Agreement on Closing the Gap

5 LanguagesAnimation SubtitlesNational Agreement

Indigenous Translations provided First Nations language subtitles across five languages for animated communications explaining the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and its Priority Reforms.

The National Agreement represents a significant change in how governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, placing partnership, shared decision-making, community-controlled services, institutional transformation and access to data at the centre of Closing the Gap.

Languages: Arrernte · NT Kriol · Warlpiri · Yolŋu Matha · Pitjantjatjara
Role: First Nations language animation subtitles

Innovation & Research

Research that shaped how we work.

In 2015, Indigenous Translations was awarded the Copyright Agency Publisher Fellowship for research into digital approaches to overcoming barriers in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander translation and communication.

The fellowship supported research conducted in New York City and attendance at the Digital Innovation Summit, informing subsequent methodologies across digital publishing, multimedia, and culturally grounded communication.

View Copyright Agency Fellowship

Experience & Impact

A decade of specialist work across formats and sectors.

Established 2014

More than a decade of specialist communication experience

Government, media, business & community projects

Film · Animation · Broadcast · Digital · Print

A Specialised National Practice

Experience, networks and national reach.

Indigenous Translations collaborates with a multidisciplinary autonomous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander team of specialist consultants situated throughout Australia.

Our work is supported by systems, policies and procedures for team management, communication, continuous improvement and community engagement across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities Australia-wide.

We have extensive experience liaising and working with key government stakeholders and developing innovative pilot programs demonstrating the importance of using First Nations languages and culturally appropriate communication to deliver important information.

Indigenous Translations was registered on the Department of Human Services Creative and Digital Communication Services Panel of Translators (CD104).

Language · Information · Education · Media · Participation

A Rights-Based Approach

The work of Indigenous Translations has been informed by the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), particularly those concerning language, education, public information, media and participation in decisions affecting Indigenous peoples.

These principles have helped shape an approach to communication that recognises First Nations languages not simply as a translation requirement, but as part of cultural continuity, access to information, participation and the right of communities to communicate and be understood in their own languages.

Language & Communication

Recognises the right of Indigenous peoples to revitalise, use, develop and transmit their languages, oral traditions, writing systems and literatures. It also calls for measures to ensure Indigenous peoples can understand and be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings, including through interpretation or other appropriate means.

Education

Recognises Indigenous peoples' rights in education, including education in their own languages and in ways appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning.

Education & Public Information

Recognises the right to the dignity and diversity of Indigenous cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations being appropriately reflected in education and public information.

Media

Recognises the right of Indigenous peoples to establish their own media in their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-Indigenous media without discrimination.

Participation & Decision-Making

Recognises the right of Indigenous peoples to participate in decision-making on matters affecting their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures.

Consultation & Free, Prior and Informed Consent

Provides that states should consult and cooperate in good faith with Indigenous peoples through their representative institutions in relation to legislative or administrative measures that may affect them, with the objective of obtaining their free, prior and informed consent.

For Indigenous Translations, these principles have provided an enduring framework for thinking about language communication: who has access to information, whose language carries that information, how communities participate in communication intended for them, and how technology and media can support rather than diminish language and cultural continuity.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Legacy / Next Chapter

A body of work that continues to speak.

More than a decade of work has created a substantial body of experience in language, culture, communication and accessible information.

Today, Indigenous Translations works selectively with established clients and specialised projects where our experience can make a meaningful contribution.

This website serves as a home for that body of work — preserving selected campaigns, productions and ideas developed since 2014.