Regions of Western Australia

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Regionalisations of Western Australia are systems by which Western Australia is divided into distinct geographic regions. The most commonly known regionalisation is the governmental division of the state into regions for economic development purposes, of which there are nine.

Other regionalisations include those made for purposes of land management, such as agriculture or conservation; and information gathering, such as statistical or meteorological.

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 in popular usage.

Contents

[edit] The Regional Development Commissions Act regionalisation

Map of the regions

The most widely known regionalisation of Western Australia is the one defined by the State Government for purposes of economic development administration. Together, these constitute the whole of mainland Western Australia, with the exception of the Perth metropolitan area which is not contained in a region.

These regions were established by the Regional Development Commissions Act 1993, which defined their extents and established Regional Development Commissions to promote their economic development. In defining the regions, an attempt was made to capture distinct socio-economic communities. For example, the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia has an economy based heavily on mining, whereas the Wheatbelt region is economically dependent on agriculture.

The regions as determined are:

For the earlier land administrative divisions of Western Australia - see: - Lands_administrative_divisions_of_Western_Australia#Land_divisions

[edit] Bureau of Meteorology areas

The same terms used by the RDCA are also used by BOM [1] - but do not directly coincide with the boundaries of the Regional Development defined boundaries above.

The BOM designates the forecast areas with finer detail on weather reports into points of the compass - as with the Interior area - southern interior, and western interior.

Numbers 7 to 13 are usually known as those forecast areas in the Southwest Land Division, and coastal zones for sea forecasts are dealt with in Coastal regions of Western Australia

BOM Map number BOM name RDCA name BOM overlap areas RDCA overlap areas notes
01 Kimberley Kimberley South East Kimberley in BOM 'NE Interior' close fit
02 Pilbara Pilbara BOM North Interior in RDCA 'East Pilbara'
03 Gascoyne Gascoyne BOM South and East Gascoyne in RDCA 'Mid West'
04 Goldfields Goldfields-Esperance
05 Eucla Goldfields-Esperance
06 Interior Goldfields-Esperance, Mid West, Pilbara
07 Central West Mid West
08 Lower West Perth, Peel
09 Southwest South West
10 South Coastal Great Southern
11 Southeast Coastal Goldfields-Esperance
12 Great Southern Great Southern
13 Central Wheat Belt Wheatbelt

[edit] Political regionalisations

Under Australia's three-tiered system of government, Western Australia has three political regionalisation schemes:

Federal government
State government
Local government
For more details on this topic, see Local Government Areas of Western Australia.

[edit] State government departmental regionalisations

Many government departments maintain systems of regional and district breakdowns of the state for their own internal purposes.

Department of Education[2]
  • Goldfields
  • Kimberley
  • Midwest
  • North Metro
  • Pilbara
  • South Metro
  • Southwest
  • Wheatbelt
See also: List of schools in rural Western Australia
Department of Agriculture and Food[3]
  • Northern Agricultural Region
  • Rangelands Region
  • Southern Agricultural Region
  • Central Agricultural Region
  • South West Agricultural
Main Roads Western Australia[4]
  • Kimberley
  • Pilbara
  • Gascoyne
  • Mid-West
  • Goldfields-Esperance
  • Wheatbelt North
  • Metropolitan
  • Wheatbelt South
  • Great Southern
  • South-West
Department of Water[5]
  • Kimberley
  • Pilbara
  • Mid West Gascoyne
  • Goldfields
  • Swan-Avon
  • Kwinana Peel
  • South West
  • South Coast
Department of Fisheries

Fisheries tends to separate the state into four main regions for the purpose of regulating recreational fishing:

  • Pilbara-Kimberley
  • Gascoyne
  • WestCoast
  • South Coast.
For more details on this topic, see Coastal regions of Western Australia.
Department of Mines and Petroleum

The Department produces statistical data based on the Regional Development Commissions Act regionalisation schema

See also: Mining fields in Western Australia

Since the creation of the Department of Industry and Resources some rationalisation of mines administration has occurred, however the mineral fields and boundaries remain the same as when established.[6]

[edit] Natural and land management

There are a number of regionalisations that purport or attempt to provide a regionalisation based on natural features. The best known of these are the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) regions, and the World Wildlife Fund's Ecoregions in Australia, and the "natural regions" of John Stanley Beard, all of which are based on biogeography. Other natural regionalisations included the drainage basins and catchments of river systems, and highly specialised regionalisations dealing with such matters as geology and soil systems.

Administrative regionalisations include Landcare Districts and the Department of Agriculture's "Land-use Zones". However the Department of Agriculture publications - Technical Bulletins [7] - usually titled An inventory and condition report/survey... of a particular region are very specifically focused upon land systems that are based on natural features.

[edit] Land tenure

Western Australia is divided into approximately 90 land districts for cadastral purposes. There are five land divisions in Western Australia, as specified in Schedule 1 of the Land Administration Act 1997.

  • Eastern Land Division
  • Eucla Land Division
  • Kimberley Land Division
  • North-West Land Division
  • South-West Land Division
For more details on this topic, see Lands administrative divisions of Western Australia#Land_districts.

[edit] Wine regions

Main article: West Australian wine

Australia’s biggest State extends the western third of the continent, although the winemaking regions are almost entirely situated in the south-western tip of the State. It has nine regions, and five nominated subregions for wine under the Geographical indications legislation as determined by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation.[8][9][10]

Wine regions include:[11]

[edit] Coastal regions

Main article: Coastal regions of Western Australia

Western Australia has the longest coastline of any state in Australia, at 10,194 km.[12] The regions can be determined by the underlying geology, and in the case of the Bureau of Meteorology - features such as points and capes are useful indicators of coastal water forecasts. [13]

Landgate publishes touring maps that include coastal zones including:

  • Batavia Coast (incorporating the area of Cervantes, Jurien Bay, Dongara, Geraldton, and Kalbarri)[14]
  • Gascoyne Coast (Carnarvon, Coral Bay, Denham, Exmouth and the Coral Coast)
  • Coral Coast (at the northern end of the Gascoyne Coast)
  • Sunset Coast (Perth Metropolitan beachside suburbs from Cottesloe to Yanchep)

[edit] Census and Australian Bureau of Statistics

For the purposes of statistical geography, the Australian Bureau of Statistics uses the Australian Standard Geographical Classification, a hierarchical regionalisation that divides Western Australia into statistical divisions, then statistical subdivisions, statistical local areas, and finally, census collection districts.

Statistical Divisions include:[15]

  • SD 505 - Perth
  • SD 510 - South West
  • SD 515 - Lower Great Southern
  • SD 520 - Upper Great Southern
  • SD 525 - Midlands
  • SD 530 - South Eastern
  • SD 535 - Central
  • SD 540 - Pilbara
  • SD 545 - Kimberley

The ABS produces Regional profiles for the nine ABS Statistical Divisions, and the ten Development Commission regions.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/wa/wa-forecast-map.shtml
  2. ^ http://www.det.wa.edu.au/schoolsonline/district.do
  3. ^ http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/PC_93310.html?s=2048819175
  4. ^ http://standards.mainroads.wa.gov.au/NR/mrwa/internet/realtime/TRC/
  5. ^ http://www.water.wa.gov.au/Water+regions/default.aspx
  6. ^ (1981) Map of Western Australia showing Administrative Divisions and Principal mines and operators
  7. ^ http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/PC_93285.html?s=1392304539
  8. ^ T. Stevenson "The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia" pg 589 Dorling Kindersley 2005 ISBN 0756613248
  9. ^ Australian Wine and Brandy corporation - Western Australia
  10. ^ winepros.com.au, The Oxford Companion to Wine pg 765 Western Australia
  11. ^ "Western Australia's Wine Regions". Western Australia. http://www.wineaustralia.com/australia/Default.aspx?tabid=4466. Retrieved 2010 11 25. 
  12. ^ Short, Andrew D (2005)Beaches of the Western Australian Coast: Eucla to Roeback Bay ISBN 0-9586504-3-8. page 1
  13. ^ Western Australian Forecast Areas Map
  14. ^ "'StreetSmart Touring Map - Batavia Coast Western Australia ISBN 0-7309-2935-3
  15. ^ "1216.0 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2001". Australian Bureasu of Statistics. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/66f306f503e529a5ca25697e0017661f/12A078C0878D2351CA256AD4007F6839?opendocument. Retrieved 17 October 2011. 

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

  • Regions Western Australia. Perth, W.A. : Dept. of Commerce and Trade. Issue 1 (Mar./June 1998)-issue 11 (February 2002)
  • Regional futures: challenges and opportunities for Western Australia's regions: a discussion paper prepared by the Regional Development Council and the Department of Commerce and Trade. Perth, W.A. : The Council, Rev. June 1996.
  • Western Australia: a statistical snapshot of the regions prepared by the Department of Commerce and Trade for the Regional Development Council. Perth: The Department., 1995.
  • Western Australia tomorrow: population projections for the statistical divisions, planning regions and local government areas of Western Australia. Perth, W.A. : Western Australian Planning Commission, 2000. Population report (Western Australian Planning Commission) ; no. 4. ISBN 0730992225

[edit] Maps

  • Streetsmart Travellers Atlas of Western Australia (2006) Department of Land Information and West Australian Newspapers,9th ed. ISBN 1-921048-13-1
  • Quality Publishing Australia.(2007) Roads & tracks Western Australia: campsites directory, roads and tracks, all in one Jolimont, W.A.,Quality Publishing Australia, 5th ed ISBN 1876723351
  • UBD Western Australia country road atlas (2005) Macquarie Park, N.S.W.UBD, a division of Universal Publishers, 11th ed ISBN 0-7319-1587-9
Regions of Western Australia
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