Australian Regional Development Committee Boundaries for 2011

Boundary data for 55 Regional Development Australia committees, established by the Australian Government to coordinate regional growth. The dataset was created and is maintained by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, originally released in September 2011. It is built from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Local Government Area boundaries for 2011.

Use Cases

• Map the spatial extent of the RD Mid West Gascoyne region to analyze inclusion of Christmas Island and Cocos/Keeling Islands.
• Analyze boundary changes, such as Lord Howe Island's reassignment from RD Northern Rivers to RD Mid North Coast in August 2011.
• Study regional governance structures by identifying states defined as single RD regions, like the Northern Territory, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory.
• Examine boundary complexities in South Australia where RDA regions are derived from both 2011 LG boundaries and older 2007 State Government Region boundaries.

Strengths

• Boundaries are derived from the authoritative ABS LG 2011 boundary dataset.
• Documentation details specific boundary changes and regional amalgamations, such as the formation of the City of Greater Geraldton.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage for some regions, like parts of South Australia, is based on older 2007 boundaries, creating inconsistency.
• The dataset represents a snapshot from 2011 and may not reflect current administrative boundaries.

Provenance

Source

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport.

Collection Method

Built and maintained from ABS Local Government Area boundary datasets.

Time Range

2011

Freshness

Dataset snapshot is from September 2011, though metadata was updated in April 2026.

Geography

Australia, including external territories like Christmas Island and Cocos/Keeling Islands, but excluding Norfolk Island.