SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are Roper Gulf

75 per cent.

Nearly 75 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
4,811
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+10.3%
Our neighbourhoods run in Kriol, Nunggubuyu and Garrwa as readily as they do in English. 5k of us speak a language other than English at home, a higher share than almost anywhere else in the country.
locally
#1
for share of residents speaking a language other than English at home, a ranking Roper Gulf has held through successive censuses.
What makes our community ours
Kriol
3,418 speakers

Kriol is spoken by 3,418 of our residents at home, 53.4% of the council.

Nunggubuyu
279 speakers

Nunggubuyu is spoken by 279 of our residents at home, 4.4% of the council.

Garrwa
115 speakers

Garrwa is spoken by 115 of our residents at home, 1.8% of the council.

The languages of Roper Gulf

31 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.

Kriol
3,418 · +9.6%
Nunggubuyu
279
Garrwa
Anindilyakwa
Aboriginal English, so described
Yanyuwa
Dalabon
Bislama
Mayali
Ritharrngu
Warlpiri
Mandarin
Gurindji Kriol
Marra
Wagilak
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Kriol3,418 · 53.4%
    9.6%
  2. 02
    Nunggubuyu279 · 4.4%
    16.3%
  3. 03
    Garrwa115 · 1.8%
    8.5%
  4. 04
    Anindilyakwa34 · 0.5%
    53.4%
  5. 05
    Aboriginal English, so described32 · 0.5%
    0.0%
  6. 06
    Yanyuwa31 · 0.5%
    29.2%
  7. 07
    Dalabon14 · 0.2%
    0.0%
  8. 08
    Bislama12 · 0.2%
    0.0%
  9. 09
    Mayali11 · 0.2%
    57.1%
  10. 10
    Ritharrngu11 · 0.2%
    10.0%
  11. 11
    Warlpiri10 · 0.2%
    233.3%
  12. 12
    Mandarin10 · 0.2%
    0.0%
Fastest-growing among us
Warlpiri
+233.3% since last census

We share this portrait because Roper Gulf is, genuinely, not like an "average" council. Services designed for the median Northern Territory resident arrive here in the wrong language. This Atlas exists so nobody writing policy about us, federal, state, corporate or media, can claim they did not know.

Our suburbs
Where we are
In context
Roper Gulf
75.2%
Northern Territory
40.9%
Australia
27.3%

75.2% of Roper Gulf residents speak a language other than English at home, against 40.9% for Northern Territory and 27.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 census.