SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are Shellharbour

We are Shellharbour.

Home to one of the larger Macedonian-speaking communities in New South Wales, and 75 other language communities besides.

Our population
75,433
Speak another language
10,271
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+15.7%
76 languages are spoken at home in Shellharbour. Macedonian leads (1,568 speakers), with Spanish close behind (654). 14 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 Macedonian at home
1,568
Our largest community language, Macedonian, is spoken by 2.1% of Shellharbour residents at home.
What makes our community ours
Macedonian
1,568 speakers

1,568 speakers, 2.1% of Shellharbour. +3% since 2021.

Spanish
654 speakers

654 speakers, 0.9% of Shellharbour. -5% since 2021.

Italian
390 speakers

390 speakers, 0.5% of Shellharbour. -29% since 2021.

The languages of Shellharbour

76 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.

Macedonian
1,568 · +3.2%
Spanish
654 · -4.5%
Italian
390 · -28.8%
Turkish
324 · +1.3%
Arabic
302 · +62.4%
Greek
289 · +12.0%
Serbian
256 · -8.2%
Croatian
204 · +14.0%
Portuguese
201 · +1.5%
Maltese
185 · -7.0%
German
173 · -41.6%
Malayalam
155 · +118.3%
Vietnamese
152 · -5.6%
Mandarin
151 · 0.0%
Tagalog
126 · +41.6%
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Macedonian1,568 · 2.1%
    3.2%
  2. 02
    Spanish654 · 0.9%
    4.5%
  3. 03
    Italian390 · 0.5%
    28.8%
  4. 04
    Turkish324 · 0.4%
    1.3%
  5. 05
    Arabic302 · 0.4%
    62.4%
  6. 06
    Greek289 · 0.4%
    12.0%
  7. 07
    Serbian256 · 0.3%
    8.2%
  8. 08
    Croatian204 · 0.3%
    14.0%
  9. 09
    Portuguese201 · 0.3%
    1.5%
  10. 10
    Maltese185 · 0.2%
    7.0%
  11. 11
    German173 · 0.2%
    41.6%
  12. 12
    Malayalam155 · 0.2%
    118.3%
Fastest-growing among us
Malayalam
+118.3% 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
Shellharbour
13.6%
New South Wales
31.5%
Australia
27.1%

13.6% of Shellharbour residents speak a language other than English at home, against 31.5% for New South Wales and 27.1% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 census.