Spanish
17 speakers
Between the last two censuses it has more than tripled.
MacDonnell, Northern Territory
The languages of MacDonnell
The 2021 Census counted about 3,100 people in MacDonnell speaking a First Nations language at home, with Luritja the most common. Among the leading languages, Western Arrarnta has grown by about three quarters since 2016. MacDonnell has more than twice the rate of other-language speakers found across the Northern Territory.
- Residents
- 5,655
- Speak another language
- 3,880
- Languages at home
- 30
- Change since 2016
- +10.3%
What First Nations languages are spoken at home in MacDonnell?
The census names Luritja, Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrarnta as the most spoken First Nations languages. Among residents who speak another language at home, a First Nations language is the choice of 79 per cent of them. Another about 750 people gave a language the ABS could only file under a broad category, so the named figures here are a floor.
- 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
- 104+33.3%
The ABS’s own post-enumeration survey found the census missed a much larger share of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than of the population overall, so counts here are best read as a floor.
How does MacDonnell's language picture differ from Australia as a whole?
Against Australia as a whole, MacDonnell is more than three times as multilingual. MacDonnell sits in the lower half of the Northern Territory's councils, at 13th of 18.
- MacDonnell
- 68.6%
- Australia
- 21.3%
- Northern Territory
- 32.1%
Shares are calculated the same way for each area, so the bars compare directly.
Which languages have the most speakers in MacDonnell, First Nations included?
Counts are people who speak the language at home; the chip is their change since 2016. Catch-all ABS groups aren't listed.
- 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%
Which multicultural languages have the most speakers in MacDonnell?
These lead among languages from overseas.
Include First Nations languagesShowing multicultural languagesLEXIGO works in multicultural communication. First Nations languages are optional to display and are not counted in the multicultural rankings.
Persian (excluding Dari)
10 speakers
That's fewer than one in 100 residents.
German
8 speakers
Its speaker count has fallen by more than a quarter since 2016.
Which localities in MacDonnell have the most speakers of other languages?
Suburbs differ a lot, from Hermannsburg at the top to Hugh at the bottom.
Suburb pages list every language counted in that suburb.
- KintoreLed by Luritja91%382
- KunparrkaLed by Luritja91%110
- HermannsburgLed by Western Arrarnta90%497
- AreyongaLed by Pitjantjatjara89%203
- Santa TeresaLed by Eastern Arrernte88%518
- PapunyaLed by Luritja88%371
- Mount LiebigLed by Luritja87%207
- Haasts BluffLed by Luritja86%70
- TitjikalaLed by Yankunytjatjara86%163
- FinkeLed by Yankunytjatjara83%151
- KaltukatjaraLed by Pitjantjatjara82%195
- Mount ZeilLed by Western Arrarnta80%180
- ImanpaLed by Pitjantjatjara80%97
- MutitjuluLed by Pitjantjatjara78%237
- Wallace RockholeLed by Western Arrarnta72%64
- AmoongunaLed by Eastern Arrernte67%140
- Burt PlainLed by Alyawarr52%117
- PetermannLed by Luritja36%69
- HughLed by Luritja11%106
- GhanLed by Dutch5%3
- The larger figure is each suburb's share speaking a language other than English; the smaller is people. 20 suburbs listed.
Where does MacDonnell sit on the map of Australia's languages?
The shading shows how many residents speak a multicultural languageany language other than English at home, on ABS ASGS 2021 boundaries. Compare MacDonnell with its neighbours on the full map.
ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021: language used at home, by Statistical Area Level 2, rolled up to Local Government Area. Change is measured from 2016.
How the headline share is counted: 68.6% is residents who named a language other than English, as a share of everyone. Another 876 didn't answer the question. Counting them as speaking another language would give 84.1%; leaving them out of the population altogether gives 81.2%. Higher figures quoted elsewhere usually come from one of those.
People with no usual address fall outside any suburb, which is why the national figure here is a fraction under the ABS one. The council figures aren't affected.
Reuse these figures under CC BY 4.0 with credit to LEXIGO Language Map.
Planning material for residents here? Start a conversation about translation.