Gazetteer of Australia: Over 300,000 Authorized Place Names

Over 300,000 authorized place names for the Australian mainland, its external territories, and offshore areas up to the 3-mile marine limit. The Gazetteer of Australia is compiled by Geoscience Australia's Geospatial and Earth Monitoring Division on behalf of the Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia. Data is sourced from Australian state and territory jurisdictions and federal agencies, with a release noted from 2010.

Use Cases

• Validate and standardize place name spelling in Australian addresses based on the authoritative source.
• Geocode locations by matching user-input place names to official coordinates.
• Create or enhance digital maps with officially recognized Australian geographical names.
• Support linguistic or historical research on Australian toponymy based on the collection of authorized names.

Strengths

• Over 300,000 place names provide broad coverage of Australian geography.
• Compiled as the authoritative national standard by Geoscience Australia and the Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia.
• Sourced from official state, territory, and federal government jurisdictions.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• The 2010 release date suggests the data may not reflect recent place name changes.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, on behalf of the Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia (CGNA).

Collection Method

Compiled from data provided by Australian State and Territory jurisdictions (ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA) and Australian Government agencies (Australian Antarctic Division, Australia Hydrographic Service, Geoscience Australia).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:51:09.011511; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian mainland (to the 3-mile marine limit), external territories (except Australian Antarctic Territory), and offshore areas.