Regions of Western Australia


is divided into regions according to a number of systems.
The most common system is the WA Government division of the state into regions for economic development purposes, which comprises nine defined regions; however, there are a number of other systems, including those made for purposes of land management, information gathering, and election for political office.
The various different systems were defined for different purposes, and give specific boundaries, but although many of the different systems' regions have similar names, they have different boundaries; the names and boundaries of regions can and do vary between systems.

The ''Regional Development Commissions Act'' regions

The Western Australian system of regions defined by the Government of Western Australia for purposes of economic development administration, which excludes the Perth metropolitan area, is a series of nine regions.
These nine 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.
RegionLargest cityNumber of
Land areaMap
GascoyneCarnarvon4
Goldfields–EsperanceKalgoorlie9
Great SouthernAlbany11
KimberleyBroome4
Mid WestGeraldton17
PeelMandurah5
PilbaraKarratha4
South WestBunbury12
WheatbeltNortham42

Inter-regional travel restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic

During the Western Australian government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, travel between regionsother than between Perth and Peelwas restricted, with police checkpoints set up at the borders. Only essential travel was allowed. At some checkpoints, police were assisted by army and State Emergency Service personal; the army did not have any authority to prosecute or arrest. Remote communities and some "biosecurity areas" had further travel restrictions due to the lack of medical facilities and number of high risk community members. Some inter-regional restrictions were lifted on 18 May, and on 5 June all regional restrictions were removed except for remote Aboriginal communities.

Bureau of Meteorology regions

The same region names as those used by the Regional Development Commissions Act are incorporated into the system used by Bureau of Meteorology, which uses 14 regions, so the boundaries of the two systems do not coincide. In some of the regions, the BOM designates the forecast area regions with a finer level of detail using points of the compass. Regions numbered 8 to 14 are usually known as forecast areas in the South West Land Division; coastal zones for sea forecasts are dealt with in the coastal regions of Western Australia.

BOM
map
number		BOM
region
name		RDCA
region
name		BOM overlap areasRDCA overlap areasNotes
01KimberleyKimberleySouth East Kimberley in BOM "NE Interior"close fit
02PilbaraPilbaraBOM North Interior in RDCA "East Pilbara"
03GascoyneGascoyneBOM South and East Gascoyne in RDCA "Mid West"
04GoldfieldsGoldfields-Esperance
05EuclaGoldfields-Esperance
06Northern Interior
07Southern InteriorMid West
08Central WestPerth, Peel
09Lower WestSouth West
10South WestGreat Southern
11South CoastalGoldfields-Esperance
11South East CoastalGoldfields-Esperance
13Great SouthernGreat Southern
14Central Wheat BeltWheatbelt

South West Western Australia Fire Weather Forecast Areas

The South West Land Division has 23 fire districts.

Political regions

Under Australia's three-tiered system of government, Western Australia has four political regional schemes:
FederalDivisions of the Australian House of Representatives
StateElectoral Districts for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
StateElectoral Regions for the Western Australian Legislative Council
Local governmentLocal government areas

State government departmental regions

Many government departments maintain systems of regional and district breakdowns of the state for their own internal purposes.
;Department of Education
;Department of Agriculture and Food
;Main Roads Western Australia
;Department of Water
;Department of Fisheries
Fisheries tends to separate the state into four main regions for the purpose of regulating recreational fishing:
;Department of Mines and Petroleum
The Department produces statistical data based on the Regional Development Commissions Act regionalisation schema
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.
;Department of Planning / Western Australian Planning Commission
There are three regions with regional planning schemes, covering only a small part of the state:
;Department of Fire and Emergency Services
See also :Category:Biogeography of Western Australia
There are a number of regionalisations that attempt to provide a regionalisation based on natural features. The best known of these are the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia 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 - 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.

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.
Western Australia covers 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.
Wine regions include:
Western Australia has the longest coastline of any state in Australia, at 10,194 km. 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.
Landgate publishes touring maps that include coastal zones including:
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:
The ABS produces regional profiles for the nine ABS statistical divisions, and the ten Development Commission regions.

Cross-regional terminology

In some cases, regions have been grouped into larger areas, to describe a larger area in a single term: