Kriol
3,418 speakers
Kriol is spoken by 3,418 of our residents at home, 53.4% of Roper Gulf.
We are Roper Gulf
64 per cent.
Nearly 64 in every 100 Roper Gulf residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in Northern Territory.
- Our population
- 6,395
- Speak another language
- 4,114
- Languages at home
- 43
- Growth since last census
- +2.1%
Our neighbourhoods run in Kriol, Nunggubuyu and Garrwa as readily as they do in English. 4,114 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
#9
of 18 Northern Territory councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #19 of 540 nationally.
What makes our community ours
Nunggubuyu
279 speakers
Nunggubuyu is spoken by 279 of our residents at home, 4.4% of Roper Gulf.
Garrwa
115 speakers
Garrwa is spoken by 115 of our residents at home, 1.8% of Roper Gulf.
The languages of Roper Gulf
43 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.
- 013,418+9.6%
- 02279+16.3%
- 03115+8.5%
- 0434-53.4%
- 0532
- 0631+29.2%
- 0714
- 0812
- 0911+57.1%
- 1011+10.0%
Fastest-growing among us
Nunggubuyu
+16.3% since last census
We share this portrait because Roper Gulf is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 2.0 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.
Nunggubuyu grew 16.3% since the last census, to 279 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
2.4% of us were born overseas, across 22 countries.
- 01New Zealand43+26.5%
- 02Vanuatu19
- 03England17-26.1%
- 04France10
- 05Philippines8+60.0%
- 06China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)7
- 07Italy7+75.0%
- 08Germany7-30.0%
- 09India4-71.4%
- 10Scotland4
What we believe
Reported affiliation in Roper Gulf at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.
- 01Christianity2,852+14.3%
- 02No religion or secular beliefs1,968-2.7%
- 03Buddhism17+13.3%
- 04Islam8-33.3%
- 05Hinduism60%
Our suburbs
Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 17 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.
- Wilton (NT)Top language — Kriol96%113
- NumbulwarTop language — Kriol94%635
- Bulman WeemolTop language — Kriol92%240
- BeswickTop language — Kriol92%494
- MiniyeriTop language — Kriol92%585
- NgukurrTop language — Kriol91%1,012
- JilkmingganTop language — Kriol91%231
- BarungaTop language — Kriol82%273
- NumburindiTop language — Kriol59%16
- NitmilukTop language — Kriol46%128
- Robinson RiverTop language — Garrwa42%76
- MatarankaTop language — Kriol34%111
- BorroloolaTop language — Garrwa14%103
- ElseyTop language — Bislama13%35
- Pellew IslandsTop language — Yanyuwa10%39
- LimmenTop language — Kriol9%23
- Calvert (NT)0%0
- 17 suburbs in Roper Gulf. Percentage is residents speaking a language other than English at home; the figure beneath it is how many people that is.
Where we are
Roper Gulf 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
- Roper Gulf
- 64.3%
- Northern Territory
- 32.1%
- Australia
- 21.3%
64.3% of Roper Gulf 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. 64.3% is 4,114 residents as a share of all 6,395 of us. A further 697 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 75.2%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 72.2%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Roper Gulf, 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 Roper Gulf 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 Roper Gulf.