2011 CENSUS COUNTS — ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES IN INDIGENOUS REGIONS

The Indigenous Structure of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) provides a geographical standard for the publication of statistics about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia.
Indigenous Regions (IREGs) are the highest level of the Indigenous Structure and are loosely based on the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) boundaries.
IREGs are divided into Indigenous Areas (IAREs) (the second level of the Indigenous Structure) and these are then divided into smaller units known as Indigenous Locations (ILOCs), the third and lowest level of the Indigenous Structure.

In the 2011 Census, over half (53%) of the people who identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin and counted in the Census lived in nine of the 57 Indigenous Regions.
The three largest regions were located on the eastern seaboard of Australia: Brisbane (53,271), NSW Central and North Coast (52,319) and Sydney - Wollongong (52,171).
These three regions accounted for 29% (157,761 of 548,370) of the total Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander count for Australia.

2011 CENSUS COUNTS — ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES(a) – Indigenous Regions with largest counts
			Proportion of population – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Indigenous Regions	no.		%
Brisbane	53 271		9.7
NSW Central and North Coast	52 319		9.5
Sydney - Wollongong	52 171		9.5
Perth	25 534		4.7
Cairns - Atherton	23 466		4.3
Townsville - Mackay	22 538		4.1
Adelaide	20 761		3.8
Riverina - Orange	20 172		3.7
Victoria (exc. Melbourne)	20 122		3.7
Tasmania	19 546		3.6
Australia(b)	548 370		2.5
(a) Usual residence Census counts, excludes overseas visitors.
(b) Includes all Indigenous Regions.
Note: Totals and components may not be consistent within and between tables due to introduced random error to protect confidentiality of Census respondents. See: Census Dictionary, 2011 (cat. no. 2901.0).

The Indigenous Regions with the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were outside major population centres.
These regions, with the exception of Jervis Bay in New South Wales, are located in the northern part of Australia.

2011 CENSUS COUNTS — ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES(a) – Indigenous Regions with highest proportions
			Proportion of total population for Indigenous Region
Indigenous Regions	no.		%
Torres Strait	5 922		79.1
Apatula	8 374		76.9
Jabiru - Tiwi	10 379		76.7
Tennant Creek	3 684		64.4
Nhulunbuy	9 259		62.9
Jervis Bay	224		59.6
Cape York	8 565		55.6
Katherine	8 637		50.4
Kununurra	5 505		48.4
West Kimberley	4 044		48.1
Australia(b)	548 370		2.5
(a) Usual residence Census counts, excludes overseas visitors.
(b) Includes all Indigenous Regions.
Note: Totals and components may not be consistent within and between tables due to introduced random error to protect confidentiality of Census respondents. See: Census Dictionary, 2011 (cat. no. 2901.0).

INDIGENOUS AREAS

In the 2011 Census, with the exception of Fitzroy River (Western Australia), the ten Indigenous Areas with the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were in the Northern Territory and Queensland.
The Indigenous Area of Laynhapuy - Gumatj Homelands in eastern Arnhem Land had the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (98%), followed by the Indigenous Areas of Cherbourg and Yarrabah (both 97%), two discrete communities in Queensland.

2011 CENSUS COUNTS —ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES(a) – Indigenous Areas with highest proportions
		ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES
	Count in Indigenous Area	Proportion in Indigenous Area
Indigenous Areas	no.	%
Laynhapuy - Gumatj Homelands	627	98.1
Cherbourg	1 192	97.4
Yarrabah	2 341	97.3
Alice Springs Town Camps	881	97.1
Fitzroy River	1 023	94.7
Gapuwiyak and Outstations	990	94.7
Urapuntja	659	94.4
Kulkalgal - Central Islands	900	94.2
Alpurrurulam	416	94.1
Palm Island	2 202	94.1
Total Australia(b)	548 370	2.5
(a) Usual residence Census counts, excludes overseas visitors.
(b) Includes all Indigenous Areas.
Note: Totals and components may not be consistent within and between tables due to introduced random error to protect confidentiality of Census respondents. See: Census Dictionary, 2011 (cat. no. 2901.0).