Luritja
1,044 speakers
Luritja is spoken by 1,044 of our residents at home, 18.5% of MacDonnell.
We are MacDonnell
69 per cent.
Nearly 69 in every 100 MacDonnell residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in Northern Territory.
- Our population
- 5,655
- Speak another language
- 3,880
- Languages at home
- 30
- Growth since last census
- +10.3%
Our neighbourhoods run in Luritja, Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrarnta as readily as they do in English. 3,880 of us speak a language other than English at home — a higher share than almost anywhere else in the country, and the ordinary condition of daily life here rather than an exception to it.
In Northern Territory
#8
of 18 Northern Territory councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #15 of 540 nationally.
What makes our community ours
Pitjantjatjara
760 speakers
Pitjantjatjara is spoken by 760 of our residents at home, 13.4% of MacDonnell.
Western Arrarnta
604 speakers
Western Arrarnta is spoken by 604 of our residents at home, 10.7% of MacDonnell.
The languages of MacDonnell
30 languages carry the conversation at home. Every one of them is spoken here.
Each block below is scaled to the number of people who speak that language at home, and tinted by how fast that community has grown since the last census.
- Grew 50%+
- 25%+
- 10%+
- Held
- Slipped
- Declined 10%+
- Not comparable
Every language, in order
Speakers at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016. Broader ABS categories such as “Chinese, nfd” are counted in our totals but left out of this list, so the percentages can exceed the sum of the languages shown.
- 011,044+44.6%
- 02760+13.1%
- 03604+92.4%
- 04239-10.8%
- 05170+17.2%
- 0692+26.0%
- 0787+14.5%
- 0840+1233%
- 0917
- 1017+467%
Fastest-growing among us
Western Arrarnta
+92.4% since last census
We share this portrait because MacDonnell is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 2.1 times the Northern Territory figure. Services designed for the median Northern Territory resident arrive here in the wrong language. This almanac exists so that nobody writing policy about us — federal, state, corporate or media — can say they did not know.
Western Arrarnta grew 92.4% since the last census, to 604 speakers. A community growing at that rate is one whose translation needs are ahead of the last set of figures anyone commissioned.
Who we are, beyond language
Where we were born
1.9% of us were born overseas, across 19 countries.
- 01New Zealand25-7.4%
- 02England18-18.2%
- 03Philippines10
- 04Wales6
- 05Argentina60%
- 06Nepal5+66.7%
- 07South Africa5-50.0%
- 08United States of America5
- 09Papua New Guinea5
- 10Russian Federation4
What we believe
Reported affiliation in MacDonnell at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.
- 01Christianity3,443-3.1%
- 02No religion or secular beliefs958+83.2%
- 03Hinduism90%
Our suburbs
Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 20 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.
- KintoreTop language — Luritja91%382
- KunparrkaTop language — Luritja91%110
- HermannsburgTop language — Western Arrarnta90%497
- AreyongaTop language — Pitjantjatjara89%203
- Santa TeresaTop language — Eastern Arrernte88%518
- PapunyaTop language — Luritja88%371
- Mount LiebigTop language — Luritja87%207
- Haasts BluffTop language — Luritja86%70
- TitjikalaTop language — Yankunytjatjara86%163
- FinkeTop language — Yankunytjatjara83%151
- KaltukatjaraTop language — Pitjantjatjara82%195
- Mount ZeilTop language — Western Arrarnta80%180
- ImanpaTop language — Pitjantjatjara80%97
- MutitjuluTop language — Pitjantjatjara78%237
- Wallace RockholeTop language — Western Arrarnta72%64
- AmoongunaTop language — Eastern Arrernte67%140
- Burt PlainTop language — Alyawarr52%117
- PetermannTop language — Luritja36%69
- HughTop language — Luritja11%106
- GhanTop language — Dutch5%3
- 20 suburbs in MacDonnell. Percentage is residents speaking a language other than English at home; the figure beneath it is how many people that is.
Where we are
MacDonnell shaded by the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. Boundaries are ABS ASGS 2021. See every council on one map.
In context
- MacDonnell
- 68.6%
- Northern Territory
- 32.1%
- Australia
- 21.3%
68.6% of MacDonnell residents speak a language other than English at home, against 32.1% for Northern Territory and 21.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 Census.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2021, language used at home by Statistical Area Level 2, aggregated to Local Government Area. Growth compares 2021 against the 2016 Census.
How the headline share is counted. 68.6% is 3,880 residents as a share of all 5,655 of us. A further 876 did not state a language at all, and we do not count them as speaking one — counting every non-response as a non-English speaker would put this figure at 84.1%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 81.2%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for MacDonnell, it is almost certainly one of those two.
Two further caveats we would rather state than bury. Summing suburbs omits residents not allocated to one — no usual address, migratory and unincorporated areas — so national totals sit a little under the ABS published figures; the MacDonnell figures on this page are unaffected. And ranked language lists exclude ABS residual categories such as “Chinese, nfd”, which are not languages anyone can order a translation in; they remain inside the headline total.
Need this community reached in its own languages? Talk to us about translation in MacDonnell.