SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are West Arnhem

83 per cent.

Nearly 83 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
5,144
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+89.0%
Our neighbourhoods run in Kunwinjku, Burarra and Kuninjku 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 West Arnhem has held through successive censuses.
What makes our community ours
Kunwinjku
1,439 speakers

Kunwinjku is spoken by 1,439 of our residents at home, 23.3% of the council.

Burarra
1,125 speakers

Burarra is spoken by 1,125 of our residents at home, 18.2% of the council.

Kuninjku
417 speakers

Kuninjku is spoken by 417 of our residents at home, 6.7% of the council.

The languages of West Arnhem

40 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.

Kunwinjku
1,439 · -12.4%
Burarra
1,125 · +24.4%
Kuninjku
417 · +701.9%
Ndjebbana (Gunavidji)
362 · +112.9%
Maung
315 · -2.8%
Kune
238
Iwaidja
122
Kriol
65
Na-kara
50
Gun-nartpa
48
Mayali
Gurr-goni
Djambarrpuyngu
Rembarrnga
Wurlaki
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Kunwinjku1,439 · 23.3%
    12.4%
  2. 02
    Burarra1,125 · 18.2%
    24.4%
  3. 03
    Kuninjku417 · 6.7%
    701.9%
  4. 04
    Ndjebbana (Gunavidji)362 · 5.9%
    112.9%
  5. 05
    Maung315 · 5.1%
    2.8%
  6. 06
    Kune238 · 3.8%
    64.1%
  7. 07
    Iwaidja122 · 2.0%
    19.6%
  8. 08
    Kriol65 · 1.1%
    85.7%
  9. 09
    Na-kara50 · 0.8%
    9.1%
  10. 10
    Gun-nartpa48 · 0.8%
    4.0%
  11. 11
    Mayali46 · 0.7%
    58.2%
  12. 12
    Gurr-goni41 · 0.7%
    12.8%
Fastest-growing among us
Kuninjku
+701.9% since last census

We share this portrait because West Arnhem 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
West Arnhem
83.2%
Northern Territory
40.9%
Australia
27.3%

83.2% of West Arnhem residents speak a language other than English at home, against 40.9% for Northern Territory and 27.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 census.