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State and territory boundaries, 2021, Australia

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Publisher Australian Bureau of StatisticsUpdated when the ABS releases a new editionLicence CC BY 4.0Latest 2021-06-25Rows 10Fields 6

The ABS digital boundary file STE_2021_AUST_SHP_GDA2020.zip, from the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3. Each row is one state or territory with the columns the ABS publishes. A row the ABS adds without a shape is kept, with a null geometry, so every ABS code is in the table.

Also called: ABS state boundaries, States and territories shapefile, STE 2021 digital boundary file, Australian state borders GeoJSON.

Part of ABS boundaries, 7 tables the publisher releases together: Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2) boundaries, 2021, Australia, Local Government Area (council) boundaries, 2025, Australia, Suburb and locality boundaries, 2021, Australia, Postcode (postal area) boundaries, 2021, Australia, State electorate boundaries, 2025, Australia, Federal electorate boundaries, 2025, Australia.

Before you use it
What is in each row?
One of the states and territories as the ABS's Australian Statistical Geography Standard, Edition 3 (2021), defines them, with its code, name, area and the other columns the ABS publishes, and its shape in the GeoParquet, GeoJSON, GeoPackage and PMTiles files. The CSV, Excel and other table files hold the columns without the shape.
What coordinate system are the shapes in?
GDA2020 (EPSG:7844), the file the ABS publishes in that datum. GDA2020 differs from WGS84 by well under a metre, so web maps can use it as it is.
What is Other Territories?
The ABS groups Jervis Bay Territory, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island as Other Territories. Any row the ABS adds without a shape is kept, with a null geometry, so every ABS code is in the table.

Made for agents

Connect your AI agent

Any agent that connects to publicdata.au/mcp can find this dataset, read its 6 fields, count and filter across all 10 rows and diff its versions. Every answer names the version and carries ABS's attribution. No key.

Then ask it: What does State and territory boundaries, 2021, Australia hold, and what changed in the newest version?

claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp

One command. No key, no account, no sign-up.

Download it as Excel, CSV, JSON and 8 more formats

Pick a format and a version. Excel is picked first because it opens in the tools most offices have. The URL is yours to keep. A dated version keeps its content.

Format
"Latest" redirects to the newest version and will change when the publisher releases again. A dated version keeps its content.
https://publicdata.au/d/abs-states-territories-2021/latest/data.xlsx
Download this file

One workbook with a records sheet of 10 typed rows, a fields sheet and a publicdata sheet with the provenance. Dates are real Excel dates. Opens in Excel, Numbers, LibreOffice and Sheets.

In your own tools

Use it in Excel, R, Python and more

Excel and Power BI read the CSV from its address and refresh from it. The R and Python packages take any dataset on this site by its slug, so a new dataset needs no new release. The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS, and a query reads only the blocks it touches.

The dated URL in the code never changes. https://publicdata.au/d/abs-states-territories-2021/latest/ redirects to the newest version.

https://publicdata.au/d/abs-states-territories-2021/latest/data.csv

In Excel choose Data, then From Web, and paste this address. Excel keeps it, so Refresh All reads the newest version. A sheet holds about a million rows; past that, load the query to the Data Model.

What is in it

Column names are made snake_case and the publisher's original header is kept beside each one. Blank cells are null. Nothing is added, removed, ranked or summarised.

FieldTypePublisher's headerNote
state_2021_codestringSTE_CODE21
state_2021_namestringSTE_NAME21
change_flagstringCHG_FLAG21
change_labelstringCHG_LBL21
area_sqkmnumberAREASQKM21
loci_uristringLOCI_URI21

Download this table as a data dictionary (Excel), or read it as a Frictionless Table Schema at schema.json. The key is state_2021_code.

The first 10 rows

From the latest version, in the publisher's order, with every field. A blank cell is shown as null.

state_2021_codestate_2021_namechange_flagchange_labelarea_sqkmloci_uri
1New South Wales0No change800797.6591http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/1
2Victoria0No change227496.2479http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/2
3Queensland0No change1730171.2208http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/3
4South Australia0No change984231.4202http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/4
5Western Australia0No change2526632.4825http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/5
6Tasmania0No change68017.5393http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/6
7Northern Territory0No change1348134.4931http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/7
8Australian Capital Territory0No change2358.133http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/8
9Other Territories0No change255.742http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/9
ZOutside Australia1Newnullhttp://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/Z
The first row as JSON

As it appears in data.json.

GET https://publicdata.au/d/abs-states-territories-2021/latest/data.json
{
  "state_2021_code": "1",
  "state_2021_name": "New South Wales",
  "change_flag": "0",
  "change_label": "No change",
  "area_sqkm": 800797.6591,
  "loci_uri": "http://linked.data.gov.au/dataset/asgsed3/STE/1"
}

Query it without downloading

The query API returns only the rows you ask for, as JSON, NDJSON or CSV, from the same typed rows as the files. It needs no key. Build a query here and run it, then copy the URL or the code into your own work.

Try rows or aggregate for this dataset. The query builder needs JavaScript.

How filters work

Each filter is field=operator.value in the query string, and every filter must match. A number or date field compares as a number or date, and a text field compares as text. Values are case-sensitive, except that like and ilike ignore case in the ASCII letters A to Z. Prefix not. to negate a filter, as not.eq.value.

OperatorWhat it matches
eq.valueEqual to the value.
neq.valueNot equal to the value. A blank cell does not match.
gt.valueGreater than the value.
gte.valueGreater than or equal to the value.
lt.valueLess than the value.
lte.valueLess than or equal to the value.
like.*text*Matches a pattern where * stands for any run of characters, ignoring case in the ASCII letters A to Z.
ilike.*text*The same as like. Both ignore case in ASCII letters only, so É and é differ.
in.(a,b,c)Equal to any value in the list. A value cannot contain a comma.
is.nullBlank in the source, or suppressed by the publisher.
ParameterWhat it does
selectFields to return, comma-separated. Every field when absent.
orderfield.asc or field.desc, comma-separated. When absent, rows come in the order of the file they are read from. For the newest versions that is the version's own data.parquet, which keeps the publisher's order unless the dataset sorted it. Any other version is read from the Parquet file the answer names in file, and when that file is sorted the answer names its sort in order, which ties follow too.
limitRows per page, 1 to 10,000. 100 when absent.
offsetRows to skip. The next URL in each answer sets it for you.
groupOn aggregate, fields to group by, comma-separated.
metricOn aggregate, count, sum.field, avg.field, min.field or max.field, comma-separated. count when absent.
formatjson, ndjson or csv. JSON carries the provenance header, and the others carry it in response headers.

Without a version the API answers from the newest version, and that answer changes when the publisher releases again. Put versions/<date>/ before rows or aggregate for an answer from that version alone. Every version with a table can be queried, and /api/v1/datasets/<slug>/versions lists them. A query on a version the database does not hold is read from its Parquet file, and one that would read too much of it is refused with DuckDB SQL that answers it from the file. The 1 newest version is loaded; versions lists them.

The API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Above that it answers 429 for 10 seconds with a Retry-After header, a RateLimit-Policy header and a JSON body that gives the limit. Every API answer carries the same RateLimit-Policy. A client should wait the Retry-After seconds, or read the files, which have no limit. openapi.json describes this dataset's query paths for client generators and agents.

https://publicdata.au/mcp is a remote MCP server over Streamable HTTP with the same tools, defined in the same place, so a tool added to the pages is added here too. It needs no key and no account. Its row tools and the query API answer every version through one query path, so a tool's answer and the query URL it cites give the same rows. A query that would read too much of a file is refused with DuckDB SQL that answers it from the file. It also has search and fetch, the two tools ChatGPT's deep research and company knowledge call by name, which run search_datasets and read a dataset's record in the shapes those features expect. The row tools are held to the query API's limit of 60 queries in 10 seconds from one address, and each call is two queries because it also counts the matching rows. Add it to Claude Code with claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp, add the URL in Claude as a custom connector, or give it to any client that connects to remote MCP servers. Each dataset with a table is also a resource at https://publicdata.au/d/<slug>/fields.json, which lists its fields with their types, the publisher's descriptions, their ranges and the values they hold, so an agent can read a dataset's shape before it writes a query.

What changed

One version for every release the publisher has made since this site started following the dataset. The date is the day the file changed on the portal.

versions.json · changes.json · history.tar.zst (26 MB, every version's Parquet and manifest)

Questions

How do I download State and territory boundaries, 2021 as a CSV file?

Open https://publicdata.au/d/abs-states-territories-2021/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/abs-states-territories-2021/v/2021-06-25/data.csv today. The same path serves Excel, JSON, GeoJSON, Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, GeoPackage, PMTiles, NDJSON. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same.

Can I open State and territory boundaries, 2021 in Excel?

Yes. https://publicdata.au/d/abs-states-territories-2021/v/2021-06-25/data.xlsx is a workbook with the 10 rows on a records sheet, the field list on a second sheet and the provenance on a third. The CSV also opens in Excel. https://publicdata.au/d/abs-states-territories-2021/v/2021-06-25/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size.

How often is State and territory boundaries, 2021 updated?

ABS releases it when the ABS releases a new edition. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes.

Can I use State and territory boundaries, 2021 commercially?

Yes. CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file.

Is this the official source for State and territory boundaries, 2021?

No. The publisher is Australian Bureau of Statistics, and its page is https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs/edition-3-july-2021-june-2026/access-and-downloads/digital-boundary-files. National Digital converted the publisher's file to other formats. It renamed and typed the columns and kept only those the schema lists. National Digital made these changes, and the publisher is not responsible for them. The original sits beside every version as source.zip with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared.

What coordinate system does State and territory boundaries, 2021 use?

Shapes in GDA2020 (EPSG:7844), as the ABS publishes them. The GeoJSON file uses GDA2020 as well, which differs from the WGS84 GeoJSON expects by well under a metre.

What this site did to the data. Cells were typed, headers were renamed and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. The publisher's file sits beside every version as source.zip so the change can be checked.

ABS boundaries is 7 tables here, and each takes its version date from its own file.

Attribution and citation

The licence requires the publisher's attribution. We ask that you also name publicdata.au and link to the version you used.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3, STE_2021_AUST_SHP_GDA2020.zip, sourced 19 October 2026, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs/edition-3-july-2021-june-2026/access-and-downloads/digital-boundary-files, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/abs-states-territories-2021/v/2021-06-25/

The attribution alone is inside every file. Harvard is the author-date form a report or a brief asks for. Paste the HTML on a web page so the links carry.

Licence record

Australian Bureau of Statistics states the licence, CC BY 4.0, on its own page, which was read and recorded here on 18 October 2026.

Every fetch reads the licence again and stops when it has changed. The fetch that made version 2021-06-25 read it from www.abs.gov.au on 19 October 2026.

For agents and tools

This page carries a schema.org Dataset record and is listed in /.well-known/ard.json and /catalog.json.

Source

Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes this table on www.abs.gov.au. Questions about the content go to the publisher. Questions about the files here go to corrections.

Fetched 19 October 2026. Source SHA-256 d9b7f735de6085b3…

Improve this dataset

This page is built from register/abs-states-territories-2021.yaml on GitHub. Anyone can propose a fix to it, such as a clearer description or a field the publisher renamed, as a pull request.

Report a file that differs from the publisher's · How to contribute