STATE SUBURBS (SSC)
State Suburbs (SSC) are an ABS approximation of localities gazetted by the Geographical Place Name authority in each State and Territory. Gazetted Localities are the officially recognised boundaries of suburbs (in cities and larger towns) and localities (outside cities and larger towns). Gazetted Localities cover most of Australia.
Presently there remain areas of rural South Australia and rural Australian Capital Territory that are undefined. Various islands offshore from New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania and some inshore water areas and islands are also undefined. Since 1996, Locality boundaries have been formalised for most areas of Australia through a program coordinated by the Permanent Committee on Place Names (PCPN) under the umbrella of the Intergovernmental Committee On Surveying and Mapping (ISCM). Unlike in 2011, when the State Suburbs were built from Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1), in this edition the State Suburbs have been built from Mesh Blocks that, singly or in combination, form an approximation of Gazetted Localities.
METHODOLOGY
State Suburbs (SSCs) are an ABS approximation of Gazetted Localities, created by allocating one or more Mesh Blocks. State Suburbs are created to enable the release of ABS data on areas that, as closely as possible, approximates Gazetted Localities. This methodology is different to the that used in 2011 where State Suburbs were defined using whole SA1s. This is a significant change and as a result Gazetted Localities represented in the State Suburb classification have a better overall level of accuracy.
In the context of State Suburbs, 'Suburb' covers both suburbs in urban areas and localities in rural and remote areas of Australia. Previously in 2011, areas of rural South Australia, rural Australian Capital Territory, various islands offshore from New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, and some inshore water areas and islands were not included in State Suburbs. In the 2016 State Suburb classification, the area of South Australia that is not covered by Gazetted Localities has been assigned to the State Suburb "SA Remainder". Similarly, the area of the ACT that is not currently covered by Gazetted Localities has been defined as "ACT Remainder". "ACT Remainder" has been further broken down to approximate the ACT District boundaries.
Example:
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State Suburb Code | State Suburb Name |
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80001 | ACT Remainder - Belconnen |
80002 | ACT Remainder - Booth |
80003 | ACT Remainder - Coree |
80004 | ACT Remainder - Cotter River |
80005 | ACT Remainder - Gungahlin |
80006 | ACT Remainder - Hall |
80007 | ACT Remainder - Jerrabomberra |
80008 | ACT Remainder - Kowen |
80009 | ACT Remainder - Majura |
80010 | ACT Remainder - Molonglo Valley |
80011 | ACT Remainder - Paddys River |
80012 | ACT Remainder - Rendezvous Creek |
80013 | ACT Remainder - Stromlo |
80014 | ACT Remainder - Tuggeranong |
80015 | ACT Remainder - Weston Creek |
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All islands defined within the ASGS have been assigned to a State Suburb in 2016. Where an island falls outside the defined Gazetted Localities, the island is assigned to the nearest mainland State Suburb.
Each Mesh Block has been allocated once to a Gazetted Locality generally based on the largest population contribution. As a result there are Gazetted Localities which will not appear in the State Suburb classification. This occurs in cases:
- where a Mesh Block covers two or more Gazetted Localities, the Mesh Block can only be allocated to one; or
- where more than one Mesh Block partially covers a Gazetted Locality but all the Mesh Blocks are allocated, based on the share of population, to other Gazetted Localities with which they also share area.
For the 2016 ASGS,
15,304 State Suburbs have been defined. No Usual Address and Migratory-Offshore-Shipping are represented as non-spatial objects in the digital boundaries.
STATE SUBURB NAMES
2016 State Suburbs are based on the August 2016 Gazetted Localities data available from PSMA Australia.
Where the same State Suburb name appears in different States or Territories, the State or Territory abbreviation appears in parenthesis after the name. Where the name is duplicated within a State or Territory, an identifying name based on the Local Government Area name plus the State or Territory abbreviation is used. State Suburb names are therefore unique. It should be noted that there is no connection between State Suburbs and Local Government Areas. The Local Government Area name is used only to differentiate between duplicate names within a State or Territory.
Example:
|
State Suburb Code | State Suburb Name |
|
31251 | Greenmount (Mackay - Qld) |
31252 | Greenmount (Toowoomba - Qld) |
50583 | Greenmount (WA) |
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STATE SUBURB CODING STRUCTURE
State Suburbs are sorted alphabetically by name then allocated a four digit code starting from 0001 within each State or Territory. This is prefixed by a single digit State or Territory code to enable unique identification of State Suburbs across the country.
The codes used for the 2016 State Suburbs may not match those used in 2011 as codes are assigned alphabetically within each State and Territory, and some State Suburb names have changed since 2011. Correspondences enabling translation of data from 2011 to 2016 to qualify these changes will be released with this volume.
Special purpose codes are included as balancing items. Mesh Blocks allocated to these codes are not part of any official State Suburb.
- SSC code 9797 is reserved for cases where people are coded to Migratory, Off-Shore and Shipping Mesh Blocks.
- SSC code 9494 is reserved for cases where people are coded to No Usual Address Mesh Blocks.
Example:
|
State and Territory Name | State and Territory Code | State Suburb Code | State Suburb Name |
|
New South Wales | 1 | 10001 | Aarons Pass |
New South Wales | 1 | 10002 | Abbotsbury |
New South Wales | 1 | 10003 | Abbotsford (NSW) |
New South Wales | 1 | 10004 | Abercrombie |
New South Wales | 1 | 10005 | Abercrombie River |
New South Wales | 1 | 10006 | Aberdare |
New South Wales | 1 | 19494 | No usual address (NSW) |
New South Wales | 1 | 19797 | Migratory - Offshore - Shipping (NSW) |
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