This copy of the Gospel of Mark was translated into Bamu, a Papuan language spoken in southern Papua New Guinea, by Australian missionaries Harrie and Eva Standen of the Bamu River Mission. This mission included a church, hospital, and school, and was known locally and in the Christian press abroad as the “mission in the mud,” due to the area’s high rainfall. Published in 1952 by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Australia, the Standens’ translation of the Gospel of Mark was the first portion of the Bible printed in Bamu. Today, Bamu is spoken by only around 1,000 people.