National Wards¶
Disclaimer
Overview¶
National Wards is a spatial representation of the gazetted ward districts, which are a subset of Local Government Area boundaries defined by State and Territory governments. National Wards represent distinct areas within a local government area that relate to the election of councillors for the related local government. National Wards aggregates the representations unique to each jurisdiction into a consistent seamless representation of the wards of Australia. Geoscape welcomes your feedback on the National Wards product. We also publish regular product development updates on our website ( www.geoscape.com.au ).
Release Summary¶
This product was released to customers on 16 February 2026 with data extracted on 2 February 2026.
This release is a full national data population for Version 1.1 of the National Wards product, described by the National Wards Product Guide v1.1.
Any issues that have been identified for this release are described in the Issues section.
Change Notifications¶
Versioning Update (Effective June 2026)¶
Beginning June 2026, all data products will transition to a standardised versioning format: MAJOR-MINOR-EXTRACT (e.g., 004-000-001). This approach provides a clear and consistent structure, making it easier for users to identify product versions and understand update levels at a glance. The change is intended to improve transparency, reduce ambiguity, and support more efficient integration and usage of our data products.
Implementation of New Zip File Naming and Packaging Standards (Starting August 2026)¶
As part of ongoing improvements to product consistency and packaging standards, updates to zip file naming conventions and internal packaging structure will be implemented, starting in August 2026.
Zip File Naming
Two standard naming patterns will be used, depending on whether an extract contains spatial information:
Spatial Tables:
{PRODUCT-NAME}_{RELEASE YYYYMM}_{REGION}_{CRS}_{FORMAT}_{VERSION MAJOR-MINOR-EXTRACT}.zip
Aspatial (Insights) Tables:
{PRODUCT-NAME}_{RELEASE YYYYMM}_{REGION}_{FORMAT}_{VERSION MAJOR-MINOR-EXTRACT}.zip
Packaging Structure
All zip files will follow a simplified, flat directory layout:
No nested folders
The primary data file and the accompanying contents.txt file will be located at the top level of the zip These changes ensure consistent packaging across all products, reduce complexity, and support improved automation and user experience.
Updates¶
New and Retired¶
New¶
New wards records:
ward_pid |
ward_name |
lga_pid |
state |
|---|---|---|---|
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
'N/A' indicates that no records of this type exist
Retired¶
Retired wards records:
ward_pid |
ward_name |
lga_pid |
state |
|---|---|---|---|
wad3f5e24b4bdc6 |
Breaksea Ward |
lga379ed169b677 |
WA |
waddf6b93e4a293 |
Central Ward |
lga5eef542268b3 |
WA |
wad65e9e5881ebe |
Denham Ward |
lgac92c57e776fe |
WA |
wad155e2f821e68 |
East Ward |
lga5eef542268b3 |
WA |
wad8fc1ca757d5b |
Frederickstown Ward |
lga379ed169b677 |
WA |
wad5aa47266525b |
Kalgan Ward |
lga379ed169b677 |
WA |
wad04d5ac720f87 |
Kent - Nornalup Ward |
lgadf64019486fb |
WA |
wadfb124486af5a |
North Ward |
lga5eef542268b3 |
WA |
wad5bd8c9cbc0e9 |
Plympton Ward |
lga308d7945e467 |
WA |
wadee7233b9f4c7 |
Preston Pt Ward |
lga308d7945e467 |
WA |
wad30655ab2e73e |
Richmond Ward |
lga308d7945e467 |
WA |
wadc373eb89ac2f |
Rural Ward |
lga316abd31014a |
WA |
wad0cb2ad337241 |
Scotsdale - Shadforth Ward |
lgadf64019486fb |
WA |
wad872d3ad4c0bc |
South Ward |
lga5eef542268b3 |
WA |
wad17872ac694e0 |
Town Ward |
lga316abd31014a |
WA |
waddcb1f1326aee |
Town Ward |
lgadf64019486fb |
WA |
wad0c3a13326728 |
Useless Loop - Pastoral Ward |
lgac92c57e776fe |
WA |
wad4b7dcb2d35e6 |
Vancouver Ward |
lga379ed169b677 |
WA |
wad3276b422f380 |
West Ward |
lga379ed169b677 |
WA |
wade87600b13b38 |
Woodside Ward |
lga308d7945e467 |
WA |
wad46ab458b27d0 |
Yakamia Ward |
lga379ed169b677 |
WA |
'N/A' indicates that no records of this type exist
Spatial Changes¶
Spatial changes (area) greater than 1 km2 are shown below:
ward_pid |
ward_name |
state |
Difference_SQKM |
Old_SQKM |
New_SQKM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
'N/A' indicates that no records of this type exist
Other Updates¶
There were no other updates.
Issues¶
New Issues¶
No new issues.
Resolved Issues¶
No resolved issues to note.
Known Issues¶
Un-enclosed gaps between Wards in NT¶
There are two un-enclosed gaps present in the Wards data in NT. These gaps are not valid and do not represent rivers. Below, the un-enclosed gaps can be seen between polygons when they are dissolved together.
SA coastline generalisation for Central Ward¶
Jurisdictional changes to the coastline geometry have resulted in polygon generalisation for ‘Central Ward’ Ward in South Australia. These changes are related to boundary changes made to ‘The DC of Grant’ LGA. This has reduced the number of vertices in the polygons resulting in geometry differences and, in some scenarios, the creation of additional polygons for the LGA. Below is an example where a previous Admin Boundaries LGA outline (blue) can be seen compared to the new Local Government Area product representation (red area).
Geoscape is currently investigating this generalisation with the SA jurisdiction.
Future Considerations¶
This section outlines enhancements or changes under consideration, but not planned into a specific release. For further details on future initiatives, please contact Geoscape Support.
Annex A – Release Counts¶
Additional, retired and total National Wards counts and the percent change to the previous release have been listed in the table below.
TABLE |
STATISTIC |
ACT |
NSW |
NT |
OT |
QLD |
SA |
TAS |
VIC |
WA |
TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
wards |
Additional |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
38 |
52 |
Retired |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
62 |
76 |
|
Updated |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Total |
0 |
0 |
830 |
0 |
0 |
155 |
0 |
468 |
202 |
1,655 |
|
% Change |
0.00% |
0.00% |
0.00% |
0.00% |
0.00% |
0.00% |
0.00% |
0.00% |
-10.62% |
-1.43% |