Indigenous Locations

Indigenous Locations (ILOC) are geographic areas built from whole Statistical Areas Level 1 (SA1). Indigenous Locations are designed to represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, both urban and rural, that are geographically close, share language, traditional boundaries, or native title. They usually have a minimum population of about 90 people. Whole Indigenous Locations aggregate to form Indigenous Areas (IARE).

There are 1,139 Indigenous Locations covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. This includes 19 non-spatial special purpose codes. More information is available in the ILOC coding structure section below.

The Other Territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, and Norfolk Island are each represented by individual Indigenous Locations. Jervis Bay is represented by two Indigenous Locations, Jervis Bay exc Wreck Bay and Wreck Bay.

Indigenous Locations (ILOCs) are designed to support the publication and analysis of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander statistics with a high level of spatial accuracy while maintaining confidentiality. They usually have a minimum population of about 90 people

Indigenous Locations aim to identify and distinguish Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in both urban and rural settings. Smaller communities may be grouped with nearby or associated communities to meet statistical and confidentiality requirements while preserving meaningful community representation.

Remaining SA1s are grouped into larger areas representing more dispersed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.

The criteria for Indigenous Location (ILOC) names are that they:

• are meaningful
• have a maximum of 50 characters
• are unique and not shared with any other Indigenous Location.

Indigenous Locations are named according to the areas they represent.

• Where an Indigenous Location represents a well-known community, it is named after that community. For example, 30901102 Wujal Wujal.
• Where an Indigenous Location represents more than one community, it is named with a combination of up to three distinct community names. For example, 50800501 Burawa - Darlngunaya - Bungardi.
• Where an Indigenous Location represents a broad region, excluding a specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, this is reflected in the name. For example, 70500502 Katherine exc Town Camps.

Indigenous Locations (ILOC) are identified by 8-digit hierarchical codes consisting of a 1-digit State or Territory identifier, followed by a 2-digit Indigenous Region (IREG) identifier, a 3-digit Indigenous Area (IARE) identifier and a 2-digit Indigenous Location identifier. 

Within each Indigenous Area, Indigenous Location identifiers are unique. When change occurs, old codes are retired and the next available identifier is assigned.