SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are Baw Baw

We are Baw Baw.

Home to one of the larger Mandarin-speaking communities in Victoria, and 69 other language communities besides.

Our population
57,541
Speak another language
5,550
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+134.0%
70 languages are spoken at home in Baw Baw. Mandarin leads (239 speakers), with Italian close behind (161). 10 per cent of us speak a language other than English at home. That is the measure of a community that has not left its languages behind.
speak Mandarin at home
239
Our largest community language, Mandarin, is spoken by 0.4% of Baw Baw residents at home.
What makes our community ours
Mandarin
239 speakers

239 speakers, 0.4% of Baw Baw. +106% since 2021.

Italian
161 speakers

161 speakers, 0.3% of Baw Baw. -35% since 2021.

Punjabi
139 speakers

139 speakers, 0.2% of Baw Baw. +144% since 2021.

The languages of Baw Baw

70 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.

Mandarin
239 · +106.0%
Italian
161 · -35.1%
Punjabi
139 · +143.9%
Sinhalese
126 · +207.3%
German
104 · -1.0%
Vietnamese
99 · +330.4%
Dutch
79 · -31.3%
Spanish
66 · +32.0%
Thai
63 · +186.4%
Filipino
61 · +165.2%
Afrikaans
59 · +136.0%
Malayalam
56 · +522.2%
Greek
54 · +25.6%
Urdu
54 · +390.9%
Hindi
53 · +253.3%
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Mandarin239 · 0.4%
    106.0%
  2. 02
    Italian161 · 0.3%
    35.1%
  3. 03
    Punjabi139 · 0.2%
    143.9%
  4. 04
    Sinhalese126 · 0.2%
    207.3%
  5. 05
    German104 · 0.2%
    1.0%
  6. 06
    Vietnamese99 · 0.2%
    330.4%
  7. 07
    Dutch79 · 0.1%
    31.3%
  8. 08
    Spanish66 · 0.1%
    32.0%
  9. 09
    Thai63 · 0.1%
    186.4%
  10. 10
    Filipino61 · 0.1%
    165.2%
  11. 11
    Afrikaans59 · 0.1%
    136.0%
  12. 12
    Malayalam56 · 0.1%
    522.2%
Fastest-growing among us
Malayalam
+522.2% since last census

We publish this so our residents can see themselves counted, and so the agencies, funders and neighbours who serve us can see who we actually serve. Language access is not a translation line-item in our budget. It is how an emergency notice reaches a grandparent, how an enrolment form is understood, and how a health campaign actually lands in the suburbs that make up our council.

Our suburbs
Where we are
In context
Baw Baw
9.6%
Victoria
32.6%
Australia
27.3%

9.6% of Baw Baw residents speak a language other than English at home, against 32.6% for Victoria and 27.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 census.