SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are Western Downs

We are Western Downs.

Home to one of the larger Tagalog-speaking communities in Queensland, and 50 other language communities besides.

Our population
33,605
Speak another language
4,491
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+62.6%
51 languages are spoken at home in Western Downs. Tagalog leads (188 speakers), with Filipino close behind (169). 13 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 Tagalog at home
188
Our largest community language, Tagalog, is spoken by 0.6% of Western Downs residents at home.
What makes our community ours
Tagalog
188 speakers

188 speakers, 0.6% of Western Downs. +32% since 2021.

Filipino
169 speakers

169 speakers, 0.5% of Western Downs. +14% since 2021.

Spanish
135 speakers

135 speakers, 0.4% of Western Downs. +275% since 2021.

The languages of Western Downs

51 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.

Tagalog
188 · +32.4%
Filipino
169 · +14.2%
Spanish
135 · +275.0%
Afrikaans
106 · +5.0%
Punjabi
49
Romanian
37 · +37.0%
Hindi
30 · -25.0%
Mandarin
28 · +115.4%
French
27 · +170.0%
German
26 · -25.7%
Malayalam
24
Telugu
23
Korean
17
Malay
17
Nepali
15
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Tagalog188 · 0.6%
    32.4%
  2. 02
    Filipino169 · 0.5%
    14.2%
  3. 03
    Spanish135 · 0.4%
    275.0%
  4. 04
    Afrikaans106 · 0.3%
    5.0%
  5. 05
    Punjabi49 · 0.1%
    16.9%
  6. 06
    Romanian37 · 0.1%
    37.0%
  7. 07
    Hindi30 · 0.1%
    25.0%
  8. 08
    Mandarin28 · 0.1%
    115.4%
  9. 09
    French27 · 0.1%
    170.0%
  10. 10
    German26 · 0.1%
    25.7%
  11. 11
    Malayalam24 · 0.1%
    84.6%
  12. 12
    Telugu23 · 0.1%
    21.1%
Fastest-growing among us
Spanish
+275.0% 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
Western Downs
13.4%
Queensland
15.8%
Australia
27.3%

13.4% of Western Downs residents speak a language other than English at home, against 15.8% for Queensland and 27.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 census.