Kunwinjku
1,439 speakers
Kunwinjku is spoken by 1,439 of our residents at home, 23.3% of West Arnhem.
We are West Arnhem
78 per cent.
Nearly 78 in every 100 West Arnhem residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in Northern Territory.
- Our population
- 6,182
- Speak another language
- 4,795
- Languages at home
- 51
- Growth since last census
- +15.5%
Our neighbourhoods run in Kunwinjku, Burarra and Kuninjku as readily as they do in English. 4,795 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
#6
of 18 Northern Territory councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #11 of 540 nationally.
What makes our community ours
Burarra
1,125 speakers
Burarra is spoken by 1,125 of our residents at home, 18.2% of West Arnhem.
Kuninjku
417 speakers
Kuninjku is spoken by 417 of our residents at home, 6.7% of West Arnhem.
The languages of West Arnhem
51 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.
- 011,439-12.4%
- 021,125+24.4%
- 03417+702%
- 04362+113%
- 05315-2.8%
- 06238+64.1%
- 07122+19.6%
- 0865+85.7%
- 0950-9.1%
- 1048-4.0%
Fastest-growing among us
Ndjebbana (Gunavidji)
+112.9% since last census
We share this portrait because West Arnhem is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 2.4 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.
Ndjebbana (Gunavidji) grew 112.9% since the last census, to 362 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 Zealand43-6.5%
- 02England20+42.9%
- 03China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)18
- 04Philippines15+7.1%
- 05India11+83.3%
- 06Indonesia9+200%
- 07Chile4
- 08Papua New Guinea4-81.0%
- 09Sri Lanka4
- 10Taiwan3-25.0%
What we believe
Reported affiliation in West Arnhem at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.
- 01Christianity3,244+16.9%
- 02No religion or secular beliefs1,555+12.0%
- 03Buddhism32+6.7%
- 04Hinduism5+66.7%
- 05Islam0-100%
Our suburbs
Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 7 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.
- West ArnhemTop language — Kunwinjku93%772
- ManingridaTop language — Burarra90%2,241
- WarruwiTop language — Maung89%367
- MinjilangTop language — Iwaidja82%209
- GunbalanyaTop language — Kunwinjku82%941
- KakaduTop language — Kunwinjku45%137
- JabiruTop language — Kunwinjku17%128
- 7 suburbs in West Arnhem. Percentage is residents speaking a language other than English at home; the figure beneath it is how many people that is.
Where we are
West Arnhem 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
- West Arnhem
- 77.6%
- Northern Territory
- 32.1%
- Australia
- 21.3%
77.6% of West Arnhem 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. 77.6% is 4,795 residents as a share of all 6,182 of us. A further 349 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 83.2%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 82.2%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for West Arnhem, 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 West Arnhem 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 West Arnhem.