SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are Southern Downs

We are Southern Downs.

Home to one of the larger Italian-speaking communities in Queensland, and 46 other language communities besides.

Our population
36,104
Speak another language
4,046
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+31.2%
47 languages are spoken at home in Southern Downs. Italian leads (221 speakers), with Mandarin close behind (128). 11 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 Italian at home
221
Our largest community language, Italian, is spoken by 0.6% of Southern Downs residents at home.
What makes our community ours
Italian
221 speakers

221 speakers, 0.6% of Southern Downs. -34% since 2021.

Mandarin
128 speakers

128 speakers, 0.4% of Southern Downs. +16% since 2021.

Filipino
88 speakers

88 speakers, 0.2% of Southern Downs. +193% since 2021.

The languages of Southern Downs

47 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.

Italian
221 · -33.8%
Mandarin
128 · +16.4%
Filipino
88 · +193.3%
German
74 · -20.4%
Korean
69 · -9.2%
Spanish
53 · +55.9%
Tagalog
48 · -9.4%
Portuguese
46 · +35.3%
Tok Pisin (Neomelanesian)
42 · 0.0%
Punjabi
41 · +173.3%
Hindi
34 · -15.0%
Afrikaans
30 · -44.4%
Thai
26 · +44.4%
Croatian
23 · 0.0%
Finnish
22 · +83.3%
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Italian221 · 0.6%
    33.8%
  2. 02
    Mandarin128 · 0.4%
    16.4%
  3. 03
    Filipino88 · 0.2%
    193.3%
  4. 04
    German74 · 0.2%
    20.4%
  5. 05
    Korean69 · 0.2%
    9.2%
  6. 06
    Spanish53 · 0.1%
    55.9%
  7. 07
    Tagalog48 · 0.1%
    9.4%
  8. 08
    Portuguese46 · 0.1%
    35.3%
  9. 09
    Tok Pisin (Neomelanesian)42 · 0.1%
    0.0%
  10. 10
    Punjabi41 · 0.1%
    173.3%
  11. 11
    Hindi34 · 0.1%
    15.0%
  12. 12
    Afrikaans30 · 0.1%
    44.4%
Fastest-growing among us
Filipino
+193.3% 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
Southern Downs
11.2%
Queensland
15.8%
Australia
27.3%

11.2% of Southern Downs residents speak a language other than English at home, against 15.8% for Queensland and 27.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 census.