States and territories of Australia

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Quick facts for kids States and territories of Australia
Map depicting Mainland Australia’s states and its territories labelled in lime and dark green
Location	Australia
Number	16 (6 states, 3 internal territories, and 7 external territories)
Populations	Least populous state: Tasmania 541,071 Most populous state: New South Wales 8,166,369 Least populous territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands 0 (uninhabited) Heard Island and McDonald Islands 0 (uninhabited) Most populous territory: Australian Capital Territory 431,215
Areas	Smallest state: Tasmania 68,401 km² (26,410 sq mi) Largest state: Western Australia 2,527,013 km² (975,685 sq mi) Smallest territory: Cocos (Keeling) Islands 14 km² (5.4 sq mi) Largest territories: Northern Territory 1,347,791 km² (520,385 sq mi) Australian Antarctic Territory 5,896,500 km² (2,276,700 sq mi)
Subdivisions	Local government areas and unincorporated areas

Australia is a large country made up of different parts called states and territories. Think of them like big regions, each with its own government, but all working together under one main Australian Government. There are six states and ten territories. States have more power to make their own rules, while territories are more directly managed by the main Australian Government.

Australia has six states: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. It also has ten federal territories. Three of these are internal territories located on the mainland: the Australian Capital Territory, the Jervis Bay Territory, and the Northern Territory. The other seven are external territories, which are islands or land far away from the mainland. These include the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and Norfolk Island.

Most states and internal territories (except Jervis Bay) manage their own affairs with their own leaders, lawmakers, and courts. The other territories are mostly looked after by the main Australian Government.

The main Australian Government and the state and territory governments all have rules they must follow, set out in the Australian Constitution. The highest court in Australia, the High Court of Australia, can make final decisions on all legal matters.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Northern Territory act a lot like states, even though they are technically territories. They have their own governments and representatives in the main Australian Parliament.

Australia's Geography
How States and Territories Were Formed
States of Australia
- Internal Territories
- External Territories
Former Territories
- Former Internal Territories
- Former External Territories
  - Papua New Guinea (1883–1975)
  - Nauru (1920–1968)
Population and Area Statistics
Images for kids

Australia's Geography

Australia is surrounded by the Indian, Pacific, and Southern oceans. It is separated from nearby countries like Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea by seas like the Arafura Sea, Timor Sea, and Torres Strait. It's the world's smallest continent and the sixth-largest country by land area. Australia has a long coastline of about 32,994 kilometers.

How States and Territories Were Formed

A map showing how Australia's states and territories changed over time.

A clickable map of Australia's states, mainland territories and their capitals

Before 1901, Australia was a collection of separate British colonies. Each colony had its own rules and leaders.

The Colony of New South Wales was the first, started in 1788. It was very large, covering much of eastern Australia and even New Zealand and Tasmania.
Over time, new colonies were created from parts of New South Wales. These included Tasmania (originally Van Diemen's Land) in 1825, Western Australia in 1829, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859.
In 1901, these six colonies joined together to form the Commonwealth of Australia. They became the first six states. This event is called Federation.
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory were created later by the Australian Parliament. The ACT was formed in 1909 to be the home of Australia's capital city, Canberra.

States have powers protected by the Australian Constitution. This means the main Australian Government can only make laws for states on certain topics. Territories, however, are more directly controlled by the main Australian Government. Even if a territory has its own government, the Australian Parliament can still change its laws.

Each state has a Governor, who is the King's representative and acts on the advice of the state's leader. The Northern Territory has an Administrator, appointed by the Governor-General. The ACT has its own system, where the local assembly and its leader handle these roles.

The Jervis Bay Territory is a special case. It's an internal territory but doesn't govern itself. Its laws are mostly based on the ACT's laws, but its residents are represented in the main Australian Parliament as part of the ACT.

States of Australia

Here's a quick look at Australia's states:

States of Australia
State	Postal Code	ISO Code	Capital City	Population (June 2024)	Area (km²)	Population Density (/km²)	Members in House of Reps.	Governor		State Government
New South Wales	NSW	AU-NSW	Sydney	&&&&&&&&08511151.&&&&&08,511,151	800,150	10.49	46	Margaret Beazley	Chris Minns (Labor)	Government of New South Wales
Victoria	VIC	AU-VIC	Melbourne	&&&&&&&&07012962.&&&&&07,012,962	227,416	30.18	38	Margaret Gardner	Jacinta Allan (Labor)	Victorian Government
Queensland	QLD	AU-QLD	Brisbane	&&&&&&&&05608666.&&&&&05,608,666	1,729,742	3.18	30	Jeannette Young	David Crisafulli (Liberal National)	Queensland Government
Western Australia	WA	AU-WA	Perth	&&&&&&&&02981752.&&&&&02,981,752	2,527,013	1.15	16	Chris Dawson	Roger Cook (Labor)	Government of Western Australia
South Australia	SA	AU-SA	Adelaide	&&&&&&&&01882722.&&&&&01,882,722	984,321	1.89	10	Frances Adamson	Peter Malinauskas (Labor)	Government of South Australia
Tasmania	TAS	AU-TAS	Hobart	&&&&&&&&&0575959.&&&&&0575,959	68,401	8.89	5	Barbara Baker	Jeremy Rockliff (Liberal)	Tasmanian Government

Internal Territories

These territories are located on the Australian mainland.

Internal territories of Australia
Flag	Territory	Postal Code	ISO Code	Capital City (or largest town)	Population (June 2024)	Area (km²)	Population Density (/km²)	Members in House of Reps.	Administrator		Territory Government
	Australian Capital Territory	ACT	AU-ACT	Canberra	&&&&&&&&&0475644.&&&&&0475,644	2,358	198.97	3	None	Andrew Barr (Labor)	ACT Government
	Northern Territory	NT	AU-NT	Darwin	&&&&&&&&&0255559.&&&&&0255,559	1,347,791	0.19	2	Hugh Heggie	Lia Finocchiaro (Country Liberal)	Northern Territory Government
None	Jervis Bay Territory	ACT	N/A	Jervis Bay Village	&&&&&&&&&&&&0405.&&&&&0405	67	6.04	Part of ACT's Division of Fenner	Administered by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts

External Territories

These territories are usually islands located far from the Australian mainland.

External territories of Australia
Flag	Territory	Postal Code	ISO Code	Capital City (or largest town)	Population (Jun 2018)	Area (km²)	Population Density (/km²)	Members in House of Reps.	Administrator	Head of Local Government	Local Government
	Norfolk Island	NSW	NF	Kingston	&&&&&&&&&&&02601.&&&&&02,601	35	74	Part of ACT's Division of Bean	George Plant	Lead Administrator Scott Mason	Norfolk Island Regional Council
	Christmas Island	WA	CX	Flying Fish Cove	&&&&&&&&&&&01938.&&&&&01,938	135	14	Part of NT's Division of Lingiari	Farzian Zainal	Shire President Gordon Thompson	Shire of Christmas Island
	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	WA	CC	West Island	&&&&&&&&&&&&0547.&&&&&0547	14	39	Part of NT's Division of Lingiari	Farzian Zainal	Shire President Aindil Minkom	Shire of Cocos (Keeling) Islands
None	Australian Antarctic Territory	TAS	AQ	None (Davis Station)	&&&&&&&&&&&&&060.&&&&&060	5,896,500	0.0000102	N/A	None
	Coral Sea Islands	QLD	N/A	None (Willis Island)	4	780,000	0.000005
	Ashmore and Cartier Islands	N/A		None (offshore anchorage)	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&00.&&&&&00	199	0
	Heard Island and McDonald Islands	TAS	HM	None (Atlas Cove)	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&00.&&&&&00	372	0

Each external territory has its own laws set by the main Australian Parliament. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island are known as the Australian Indian Ocean Territories. People living there can vote in federal elections.

Norfolk Island's status has been a topic of discussion. The government has taken steps to integrate it more closely with Australia.

Former Territories

Australia once had other territories that no longer exist in the same way.

Former Internal Territories

Two internal territories that were once part of the Northern Territory no longer exist:

Central Australia (1926–1931): This was the southern part of the current Northern Territory.
North Australia (1926–1931): This was the northern part of the current Northern Territory.

Former External Territories

Two countries that are now independent were once managed by Australia as external territories:

Papua New Guinea (1883–1975)

Parts of what is now Papua New Guinea were managed by Australia for many years.

The Territory of Papua was an Australian external territory from 1902 to 1949.
The Territory of New Guinea was managed by Australia after World War I, from 1920 to 1949.

After World War II, these two territories were joined together for administrative purposes. In 1975, Papua New Guinea became an independent country.

Nauru (1920–1968)

The island of Nauru was also managed by Australia, along with Britain and New Zealand, after World War I. After World War II, it became a United Nations trust territory under Australian control. Nauru gained its independence in 1968.

Population and Area Statistics

Most Australians live in the eastern coastal states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory. These areas together hold more than three-quarters of Australia's population. Most major cities are located along the eastern and southern coasts.

State / territory	Abbreviation	Land area			Population (2021 census)		Population density			% of population in capital		Notes
State / territory	Abbreviation	km²	sq mi	Rank	Number	Rank	/km²	/sq mi	Rank	%	Rank	Notes
New South Wales	NSW	801,150	309,330	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&05.&&&&&05	&&&&&&&&08072163.&&&&&08,072,163	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&01.&&&&&01	9.62	24.9	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&03.&&&&&03	63.0%	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&05.&&&&&05
Victoria	VIC	227,444	87,817	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&06.&&&&&06	&&&&&&&&06503491.&&&&&06,503,491	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&02.&&&&&02	26.56	68.8	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&02.&&&&&02	71.0%	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&04.&&&&&04
Queensland	QLD	1,729,742	667,857	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&02.&&&&&02	&&&&&&&&05156138.&&&&&05,156,138	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&03.&&&&&03	2.79	7.2	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&05.&&&&&05	46.0%	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&07.&&&&&07
Western Australia	WA	2,527,013	975,685	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&01.&&&&&01	&&&&&&&&02660026.&&&&&02,660,026	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&04.&&&&&04	1.03	2.7	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&07.&&&&&07	73.4%	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&03.&&&&&03
South Australia	SA	984,321	380,048	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&04.&&&&&04	&&&&&&&&01781516.&&&&&01,781,516	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&05.&&&&&05	1.74	4.5	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&06.&&&&&06	73.5%	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&02.&&&&&02
Tasmania	TAS	68,401	26,410	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&07.&&&&&07	&&&&&&&&&0557571.&&&&&0557,571	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&06.&&&&&06	7.58	19.6	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&04.&&&&&04	41.0%	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&08.&&&&&08
Australian Capital Territory	ACT	2,358	910	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&08.&&&&&08	&&&&&&&&&0453890.&&&&&0453,890	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&07.&&&&&07	167.6	434	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&01.&&&&&01	99.6%	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&01.&&&&&01
Northern Territory	NT	1,347,791	520,385	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&03.&&&&&03	&&&&&&&&&0232605.&&&&&0232,605	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&08.&&&&&08	0.18	0.47	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&08.&&&&&08	54.0%	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&06.&&&&&06

Images for kids

An 1851 map of Australia, showing the different colonies before Federation.

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