{"id":741432,"date":"2026-06-17T02:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T02:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741432\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T02:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T02:32:17","slug":"bluey-translated-into-an-indigenous-language-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741432\/","title":{"rendered":"Bluey translated into an Indigenous language for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bluey will be available for the first time in an Indigenous language in Australia.<\/p>\n

Five episodes, The Creek, The Beach, Sleepytime, Grandad and Rug Island have been dubbed by north-east Arnhem Land residents into Yol\u014bu Matha.<\/p>\n

The episodes have been chosen because of their connections to family and Country, aligning with the community’s “worldview”.<\/p>\n

Yol\u014bu leader Sylvia Nulpinditj, a co-director of the project, expects the Bluey episodes to be a massive hit with the community.<\/p>\n

“They’ll be freaking out for Bluey and Bingo speaking in language. It’ll be awesome,” she said.<\/p>\n

The project has been years in the making, but the recording of the characters took just three weeks.<\/p>\n

Founding member of King Stingray in cast<\/p>\n

The blue heeler dad, Bandit, has been voiced by Dimathaya Burrawanga, a founding member of Yol\u014bu surf rock band King Stingray.<\/p>\n

\"Dimathaya<\/p>\n

Dimathaya Burrawanga is the voice behind Bandit. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The grandad in the series is played by respected Elder Andrew Gurruwiwi while Bluey and Bingo’s mother, Chilli, is voiced by Rosie Mununggurr.<\/p>\n

Ms Nulpinditj said the team thought hard about which of the local children they would cast as the main characters Bluey and Bingo, ensuring they had their family’s support.<\/p>\n

“It’s also part of history making with these children on an episode that is very well known around the world,” the co-manager of Yol\u014bu Radio and interim chief executive of ARDS Aboriginal Corporation said.<\/p>\n

\"Ms<\/p>\n

Rosie Mununggurr translates Chilli’s role in Yol\u014bu Matha. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

She said the children played the characters so well she expects they will soon have new nicknames based on their work.<\/p>\n

Bluey elevates Yol\u014bu culture nationally<\/p>\n

Yol\u014bu Matha is the term for closely linked languages spoken by different clans in north-east Arnhem Land.<\/p>\n

“We tried to get it as close to what you’d hear in a modern-day Yol\u014bu household, which is a mix [of languages],” Will Porter, a co-director and producer, said.<\/p>\n

\"Sylvia<\/p>\n

Sylvia Nulpinditj was in charge of translating the Bluey episodes. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

There are some English (or Balanda) words in the original show that did not translate, so they opted for Yol\u014bu concepts, stories and lullabies.<\/p>\n

In the English version of The Creek episode, the dad, Bandit, says, “Make sure you watch out for drop bears”, which are fictional creatures.<\/p>\n

Ms Nulpinditj and Mr Porter said they swapped that joke out for an old wives’ tale of \u014aamini Ba\u014b’ba\u014b’ who threatens to steal children if they do not go to bed.<\/p>\n

\"Bluey<\/p>\n

Bingo with her mum, Chilli, in the Sleepytime episode. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

While in the Sleepytime (Yakurrmina Walu) episode, they renamed Bingo’s doll a “skin name”.<\/p>\n

“Bingo, that is in the episode, sings out, ‘Oh, where’s Gutjani?’ So she’s actually calling out the doll’s skin name,” Ms Nulpinditj said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team would tweak the script line by line in the studio with traditional owners and language holders to ensure the words kept their meaning but also fit the animation’s mouth movements.<\/p>\n

NAIDOC Week release<\/p>\n

Bluey is a runaway hit, available in more than 140 countries, dubbed in more than 20 languages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

Will Porter co-directed the project alongside Ms Nulpinditj. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Back home, Mr Porter said the new offering was language preservation in action and would see the community’s voice “elevated on the main stage”.<\/p>\n

“What a better conduit to show younger Australians, what First Nations, what a Yol\u014bu household sounds like in Yirrkala or Milingindi, or Galiwin’ku,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Yol\u014bu elder Andrew Guduwiwi was the third director of the series and also played Bluey’s grandfather. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

They hope this “groundbreaking project” will be the beginning of more collaborations.<\/p>\n

NAIDOC Week (National Aboriginal Islanders Day Observance Committee) is celebrated from July 5-12. This year’s theme is “50 Years Deadly”.<\/p>\n

ABC director of First Nations strategy Kelly Williams said the project was a powerful way of bringing language and culture from north-east Arnhem Land to homes across Australia.<\/p>\n

“At the ABC, we’re committed to ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are part of the national conversation and these episodes, alongside our broader NAIDOC Week content, is a strong example of that commitment in action,” Ms Williams said.<\/p>\n

A sentiment shared by Bluey producer Ludo Studio.<\/p>\n

“Bluey is a show that is intended for everyone to enjoy, so to be able to share it in Indigenous language at NAIDOC Week feels really special,” it said.<\/p>\n

“Too deadly,” Ms Nulpinditj said of the confirmed date. “I have goosebumps.”<\/p>\n

The episodes will also feature at the Garma festival in August, held each year in Gulkula, located about 40 kilometres from Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula.<\/p>\n

The episodes will be available on iview<\/a> from July 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bluey will be available for the first time in an Indigenous language in Australia. Five episodes, The Creek,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[357564,64,63,36365,357565,357562,134,76407,357560,357561,357563],"class_list":["post-741432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-50-years-of-deadly","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bluey","tag-bluey-and-bingo","tag-bluey-indigenous","tag-entertainment","tag-king-stingray","tag-naidoc-week","tag-yolnu-matha","tag-yolnu-radio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}