This is a list of regions of Australia that are not Australian states or territories. The most commonly known regionalisation is the governmental division of the state into regions for

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

purposes. Others regionalisations include those made for purposes of

land management Land management is the process of managing the land use, use and development of land resources. Those resources are used for a variety of purposes for example agriculture, forestry, water resource management, Human settlement, human settlements an ...

, such as agriculture or conservation; information gathering, such as

statistical Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

meteorological Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...

. Although most regionalisations were defined for specific purposes and give specific boundaries, many regions will have similar names and extents across different regionalisations. As a result, the names and boundaries of regions can vary and may overlap in popular places. Not all the regions in this list have official status as an economic or administrative region.

Types of Australian regionalisation

A regionalisation of Australia is a system by which

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

is divided into regions. There are a great many different regionalisations, created for a range of purposes, including political, administrative, statistical and biological.

Political and administrative regionalisations

The most prominent regionalisation of Australia is the division into the various states and territories. For electoral purposes, the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

uses states and territories, but the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

breaks the country into

Divisions Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication * Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 t ...

. Each state is similarly divided into electoral "regions", "districts" or "provinces", each of which elects members to the house or houses of the state's parliament. Finally, the country is divided into

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

s, each of which is administered by a council. Other administrative regionalisations may exist within each state. For example, the whole of mainland

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

other than the

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

metropolitan area, is divided into

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

for the purposes of administration of the '' Regional Development Commissions Act 1993''.

Statistical regionalisations

For the purposes of statistical geography, the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an List of Australian Government entities, Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, Natural environment, environmental, and social issues to advi ...

uses the

Australian Standard Geographical Classification The Census in Australia, officially the Census of Population and Housing, is the national census in Australia that occurs every five years. The census collects key demographic, social and economic data from all people in Australia on census nig ...

, a hierarchical regionalisation whose coarsest level is the states and territories, then statistical divisions, statistical subdivisions, statistical local areas, and finally,

census collection district A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given population, usually displayed in the form of statistics. This term is used ...

Biogeographical regionalisations

Until recently, most biogeographical and phytogeographical regionalisations of Australia were individually defined for each state and territories; for example: Gwen Harden's botanical regionalisation of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

; Orchard's "natural regions" regionalisation of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

; and

John Stanley Beard John Stanley Beard (15 February 1916 – 17 February 2011) was a British-born forester and ecologist who resided in Australia. Beard studied at the University of Oxford where he completed his doctoral thesis on tropical forestry. While worki ...

's division of Western Australia into Botanical Provinces and Botanical Districts. More recently, two regionalisations that cover the entire country have been put in place. The

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

's regionalisation of the world into 825 terrestrial

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

s created 40

ecoregions in Australia Ecoregions in Australia are geographically distinct plant and animal communities, defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature based on geology, soils, climate, and predominant vegetation. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) identified 825 terres ...

. Within Australia, however, the de facto standard regionalisation is now the

Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeography, biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities ( ...

(IBRA). This divides Australia into 85 bioregions, which are further divided into 404 subregions.

Others

There are a range of other regionalisations of Australia, including: * meteorological and climatic regionalisations, as defined and used by the

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Government of Australia, Australian Government that is responsible for providing Weather forecasting, weather forecasts and Meteorology, meteorological services to Australia a ...

; * catchment areas and drainage systems; * geological regionalisation *

cadastral divisions of Australia Lands administrative divisions of Australia are the cadastre, cadastral divisions of Australia for the purposes of identification of land to ensure security of land ownership. Most States of Australia, states term these divisions as county, coun ...

Multi-state/territorial

* Capital Country ACT/ NSW *

Eastern Australia The eastern states of Australia are the states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the island state of Tasmania. The Australian Capital Territor ...

NSW/ QLD/ VIC/ ACT, sometimes including SA and TAS * East Coast of Australiaalso known as an Eastern seaboard * Lake Eyre basinQLD/SA/ NT/NSW * Murray–Darling basinNSW/ACT/VIC/QLD/SA *

Northern Australia The unofficial geographic term Northern Australia includes those parts of Queensland and Western Australia north of latitude 26th parallel south, 26° and all of the Northern Territory. Those local government areas of Western Australia and Q ...

NT/QLD/part of WA * The NullarborSA/WA *

Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

mainly NT and WA, but all territories except ACT and TAS * Southern AustraliaTAS/VIC/SA, sometimes including NSW and WA *

Sunraysia Sunraysia is a region located in northwestern Victoria and southwestern New South Wales in Australia. The region is renowned for its sunshine, intensive horticulture including grapes and oranges. Its main centre is Mildura, Victoria. The are ...

a portion of NSW and VIC

New South Wales

See also the

's NSW regions map. * Blue Mountains * Central Coast * Central Tablelands * Central West *

Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions with ...

* Far South Coast * Far West *

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River (New Sout ...

(

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

) *

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

(

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

) *

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

(north-west) * Murray * Mid North Coast * North West Slopes *

Northern Rivers Northern Rivers is the most northeasterly Regions of New South Wales, region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence Ri ...

* Northern Tablelands * Orana *

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

* Sapphire Coast * Snowy Mountains * South Coast * Southern Highlands *

Southern Tablelands The Southern Tablelands is a geographic area of New South Wales, Australia, located south-west of Sydney and generally west of the Great Dividing Range. The area is characterised by high, flat country which has generally been extensively cl ...

* South West Slopes *

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Northern Territory

See also the

's NT region map *

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

* Barkly Tableland * Central Australia/ Alice Springs Region/ Red Centre * Darwin Region *

Katherine Region The Katherine Region, known as "Big River Country", is one of five major regions in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is situated just below the tropical Top End. The Katherine region covers an area of , and has a population of 18,646, maki ...

Top End The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ...

* Victoria River

Queensland

See also the

's Queensland region map * Central Queensland ** Channel Country ** Capricorn Coast *

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...

** Granite Belt ** Maranoa *

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...

** Gulf Country *

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...

** Whitsunday **

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

** Gold Coast ** Sunshine Coast ** West Moreton *

Wide Bay–Burnett Wide Bay–Burnett is a region of the Australian state of Queensland, located between north of the state capital, Brisbane. The area's population growth has exceeded the state average over the past 20 years, and it is forecast to grow to more ...

** South Burnett * Central West Queensland * South West Queensland ** Channel Country

South Australia

See also the

's South Australia regions map * Adelaide Plains *

Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...

/ Mount Lofty Ranges *

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after e ...

* Far North *

Fleurieu Peninsula The Fleurieu Peninsula ( ; locally mainly ) is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide. History Before British colonisation of South Australia, the western s ...

* Flinders Ranges *

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island (, ) is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Poi ...

* Limestone Coast * Mid North **

Clare Valley The Clare Valley is a valley located in South Australia about north of Adelaide in the Clare and Gilbert Valleys council area. It is the river valley formed by the Hutt River but is also strongly associated with the roughly parallel Hill Riv ...

* Murray Mallee ** Murraylands **

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the Murray River, River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria downstream to Blanchetown, South Australia ...

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula, known as Guuranda by the original inhabitants, the Narungga people, is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula ...

** Copper Triangle

Tasmania

See also the

's Tasmania regions map * Central Highlands *

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

* West Coast *

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

Victoria

See also the

's Victoria regions map ;Official: The six official regions of Victoria are: *

Barwon South West The Barwon South West is an economic rural region located in the southwestern part of Victoria, Australia. The Barwon South West region stretches from the tip of the Queenscliff Heads to the border of South Australia. It is home to Victori ...

** Barwon ** Great South Coast *

Gippsland Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...

Grampians The Grampian Mountains () is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to so ...

** Central Highlands ** Wimmera Southern Mallee *

Greater Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

* Hume **

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, approximately south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victor ...

** Ovens Murray *

Loddon Mallee The Loddon Mallee is an economic rural region located in the north-western part of Victoria, Australia. Occupying more than a quarter of the state, it stretches from Greater Melbourne to the northernmost point of Victoria, sharing a border w ...

** Loddon Campaspe ** Mallee ;Unofficial: * Central Victoria ** Yarra Valley **Upper Yarra **The Bays ***

Port Phillip Port Phillip (Kulin languages, Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped bay#Types, enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, ...

***

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located in the south of Greater Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to ...

***

Bellarine Peninsula The Bellarine Peninsula (Wadawurrung language, Wadawurrung: ''Balla-wein'' or ''Biteyong'') is a peninsula located south-west of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, surrounded by Port Phillip, Corio Bay and Bass Strait. The peninsula, together wi ...

***

Western Port Western Port, ( Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in the state. Geographically, it ...

** Goldfields ***Spa Country **Central Coast ***Bass Coast *Northern Country/North Central **Central Murray **Lower Goulburn ** Goulburn Valley **Southern

**Upper Goulburn *Northeast ** Victorian Alps **Upper Murray **High Country ** Bogong High Plains *Gippsland ** East Gippsland ** West Gippsland ** South Gippsland ** Central Gippsland ***

Gippsland Lakes The Gippsland Lakes are a network of coastal lakes, marshes and lagoons in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering an overall area of about between the rural towns of Lakes Entrance, Bairnsdale and Sale. The largest of the lakes are ...

**Central Gippsland Coast **East Gippsland Coast **Victorian Alps * Western District ** Central Highlands/Tablelands **

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

**The

**Goldfields ***Spa Country *Southwest **The Otways **West Coast ***Shipwreck Coast ***Great Ocean Road ***Surf Coast *Northwest ** The Mallee ***

*** Millewa **The

Wimmera The Victorian government's Wimmera Southern Mallee subregion is part of the Grampians region in western Victoria. It includes most of what is considered the Wimmera, and part of the southern Mallee region. The subregion is based on the social ...

Western Australia

See also the

's Western Australia regions map. Western Australia regions The Western Australian system of regions defined by the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government or the Western Australian Governmen ...

for purposes of economic development administration, which excludes the Perth metropolitan area, is a series of nine regions. The nine defined regions are: *

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gascoyne has about of ...

* Goldfields–Esperance * Great Southern *

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

* Mid West * Peel *

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

* South West * Wheatbelt

References

External links

MyRegion.gov.au
– an Australian government website dedicated to providing information about the 55 regions of the nation
RDA.gov.au
– Regional Development Australia sets regional priorities and helps guide local development and policy {{Australia topics

Regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...