Languages used by children in Canberra

Traditional languages of Canberra and nearby regions

English has been the dominant societal language since European colonisation in the 1820s. Prior to this, a number of languages including Ngunnawal, Ngarigu, and Walgulu were used by First Nations peoples in and around the region (ACT Community Services Directorate, 2012). These languages are not currently learned as primary languages by children.

Some Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in the area are involved in revitalisation efforts for Australian languages including Ngunnawal, Wiradjuri, and Gamilaraay, and on the 2021 Census some caregivers indicated that their children are learning these languages at home.

AustLang (2025) is an excellent resource and database for Australian languages.

Other heritage languages

Approximately 1 in 4 children in Canberra are reported to use a language other than English at home (Census of Population and Housing, 2021). There is no dominant second language, and there are minority communities of varying sizes using more than 100 different languages. The heritage languages used in the region have changed over time, and are likely to continue to change, as different circumstances and policies affect patterns of migration.

Canberra is the capital city, many jobs are within, or contract with, the various public service agencies based in the city. These jobs typically require Australian citizenship, and high levels of proficiency in English, so patterns of immigration, English proficiency, and cultural diversity can be somewhat different from other large cities in Australia.

Ways languages are used at home

Tools like the census can provide a large-scale snapshot of the languages reported to be used at home, by people living in the region. This data can be very useful for tasks like funding interpreting services, and prioritising languages for translation of health and emergency services information.

However, individuals can interpret the concept of using a language at home in different ways. This might not be as relevant to large-scale planning, but can be much more significant at the level of providing speech pathology services to an individual or family.

For example:

Scenario: Wiradjuri

A family may report that they use Wiradjuri at home. The family has a strong and proud cultural identity as Wiradjuri people, and they are committed to maintaining, revitalising, and celebrating Wiradjuri language and culture. At home, the use of Wiradjuri kinship terms (names for people and relationships) is enforced, and the use of Wiradjuri words and phrases for greetings, and daily routines is prioritised. The family also try to use Wiradjuri words for animals, but they find that the children come across these words so often in English that it’s hard to get them to remember and use the Wiradjuri words.

The family values storytelling, and grandparents and aunties use lots of traditional stories to teach the children about Wiradjuri history, culture, values, and morality. These stories usually use some Wiradjuri words, but most of the words and the sentence structures use English. The macrostructure of these stories, the flow of the conversation, and the nonverbal aspects of communication are distinctly Wiradjuri.

Scenario: Mandarin and Cantonese

A family may report that they use Mandarin and Cantonese at home. Both parents grew up in China, speaking Hakka at home and with family, and hearing Cantonese spoken in the community around where they lived. Both learned Mandarin, and then English, at school, where they were taught that these were the languages of education and literacy. The parents know that there are large communities of Mandarin and Cantonese speakers in Canberra, and many services and supports available in these languages, and many non-Chinese Australians are aware of these languages. As Hakka is predominantly a spoken language, the family read and write either in Mandarin (using simplified Chinese characters) or English, which also affects how they think about the languages they use, especially when completing a written form.

At home, the parents use Hakka, and sometimes Cantonese, when speaking with each other. When speaking to the children, they try to use Mandarin and English, and provide the children with educational books and videos in these languages. The parents make time each day to teach the children Mandarin words, and read Mandarin books with them, although general talk around the house and within daily routines often ends up using a lot of Hakka. The children have regular video calls with their grandparents, which are often focused on teaching Mandarin words and writing, while Hakka and Cantonese are the languages of the conversation.

On the census, or on a speech pathology or school intake questionnaire, families nominate home language(s) that are significant to them, or that would be helpful to them in accessing services or supports (e.g. interpreting services). But when it comes to determining which language(s) should be considered in assessing a child’s language development, the picture can be significantly more complex, and needs more detailed discussion with the family.

In regard to macro-level factors affecting a child’s skills across their heritage language(s) and societal language(s), see Paradis (2023) (open access) for a recent review. In regard to what is means for a child or family to speak English at home and how this needs to be taken into account in a speech pathology context, one of my favourite papers is Yu (2016)’s critical ethnographic study.

Languages used by children in Canberra

Given those caveats, the table below provides the number of children aged 0-6 years, by the main language used at home, reported on the 2021 Census:

Data: Census of Population and Housing (2021)

My aim is to collate some resources that may be helpful for speech pathologists working with children who use (or are exposed to) these languages at home. I am hoping to gradually update the site when I can, prioritising the languages used most widely by children in Canberra.