Australian Maritime Boundaries 2020: Territorial Sea Baselines and Limits

Geoscience Australia developed this digital representation of Australia's maritime limits and boundaries under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973. The data includes territorial straight baselines, outer limits of maritime zones, and treaty boundaries with neighboring countries, updated to reflect the 2018 Timor Sea Treaty. Coverage spans the Australian marine jurisdiction from approximately 7°S to 70°S latitude and 40°E to 175°E longitude.

Use Cases

• Mapping territorial sea baselines based on the legal definitions in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973
• Determining offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage areas under the OPGGSA 2006 using the represented limits
• Analyzing maritime treaty boundaries between Australia and neighboring countries mentioned in the description
• Visualizing the extent of Australia's maritime zones, including waters adjacent to external territories

Strengths

• Data is published by the authoritative national agency Geoscience Australia
• Coordinates are supplied in the GDA94 datum, functionally equivalent to WGS84
• Includes updates for specific international treaties, such as the 2018 Timor Sea Treaty

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• In the event of an inconsistency between this data and the limits under any legislation, the latter prevails, as stated in the disclaimer

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, developed in consultation with the Attorney-General's Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Australian Hydrographic Office.

Collection Method

Likely delineated from legislative acts, proclamations, and international treaties.

Time Range

Currency August 2019.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-05 00:49:06.634613; freshness should be verified

Geography

Australian marine jurisdiction including waters adjacent to the mainland, offshore islands, and External Territories, approximately between 7°S to 70°S and 40°E to 175°E.