1270.0.55.002 - Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 2 - Indigenous Structure, July 2016  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 13/09/2016   
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INDIGENOUS AREA (IARE)

Indigenous Areas are medium sized geographical units designed to facilitate the release and analysis of more detailed statistics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Indigenous Areas provide a balance between spatial resolution and population size, which provides the ability to release more detailed socioeconomic attribute data. They are created by combining together one or more Indigenous Locations. For the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 430 Indigenous Areas are defined to cover the whole of geographic Australia.

There are non-spatial Indigenous Areas for Migratory - Offshore - Shipping and No Usual Address in each State and Territory.

INDIGENOUS AREA NAMES
Indigenous Area Names are allocated by ABS and are generally based upon a commonly identified name or combination of names for the area/community which the boundary encompasses. In areas encompassing multiple communities a combination of up to three distinct community names have been used to label the area.

INDIGENOUS AREA CODING STRUCTURE
Indigenous Areas have a six digit hierarchical code. Indigenous Areas are allocated a three digit code. This is prefixed by the three digit Indigenous Region code to complete the Indigenous Area code.

Special purpose codes are included as balancing items. Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) allocated to these codes are not part of a distinct Indigenous Area.

  • Codes ending in 94 are reserved for cases where people are coded to No Usual Address SA1s.
  • Codes ending in 97 are reserved for cases where people are coded to Migratory, Offshore and Shipping SA1s.

Example:

State and Territory NameState and Territory CodeIndigenous Area CodeIndigenous Area Name

Victoria 2 201001 Brimbank
Victoria 2 201002 Cardinia
Victoria 2 201003 Craigieburn - Sunbury
Victoria 2 201004 Cranbourne - Narre Warren
Victoria 2 201005 Frankston
Victoria 2 201006 Greater Dandenong
Victoria 2 294994 No usual address (Vic.)
Victoria 2 297997 Migratory - Offshore - Shipping (Vic.)


The codes used for the 2016 Indigenous Areas may not match those used in 2011 in some instances. In future ASGS editions, it may also be necessary to allocate new codes . Changes to codes occur where an Indigenous Area is abolished or changes significantly for new editions of the ASGS, the Indigenous Area identifier will be retired and the replacement Indigenous Area(s) given a new code. Correspondences enabling translation of data from 2011 to 2016 and how these changes have been applied will be released with this volume.