Indigenous Regions

Indigenous Regions (IREG) are large geographic areas built from whole Indigenous Areas (IARE). The larger population of Indigenous Regions enables the analysis of highly detailed statistics.

There are 59 Indigenous Regions covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. This includes 19 non-spatial special purpose codes. More information is available in the IREG coding structure section below.

The Other Territories of Jervis Bay and Norfolk Island are each represented by individual Indigenous Regions. Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Christmas Island are combined into one Indigenous Region.

Indigenous Regions (IREG) were originally based on the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) boundaries which are no longer maintained. They are created by combining one or more Indigenous Areas (IARE).

The criteria for Indigenous Region (IREG) names are that they:

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

Indigenous Regions are named according to the areas they represent.

• Where an Indigenous Region represents a well-known community, it is named after that community. For example, 703 Darwin.
• Where an Indigenous Region represents an area with multiple and varied populations it is named after a commonly identified name or combination of names for the area and/or communities it encompasses. For example, 309 Cairns - Atherton.
• Where an Indigenous Region represents a broader region, excluding a specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, this is reflected in the name. For example, 202 Victoria exc Melbourne.

Indigenous Regions (IREG) are identified by 3-digit hierarchical codes consisting of a 1-digit State or Territory identifier, and a 2-digit Indigenous Region identifier, as shown below.

Within each State or Territory, Indigenous Region identifiers are unique. When change occurs, old codes are retired and the next available identifier is assigned.