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'Regionalisations of Western Australia' are systems by which Western Australia is divided into distinct geographic 'regions'. The best known regionalisation is the governmental division of the state into regions for economic development purposes. Others regionalisations include those made for purposes of land management, such as agriculture or conservation; 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. In some cases, tourism promotion bodies and local councils will appropriate names or group areas to create a marketable name for a group of locations that might not correspond to any established or legally constituted place - Sunset Coast is a good example of this issue in Western Australia.

Contents

The ''Regional Development Commissions Act'' regionalisation

Political regionalisations

Natural regionalisations

Land management regionalisations

Fisheries management regionalisations

Land tenure regionalisations

Marketing regionalisations

Wine regions

Other regionalisations

Census and ABS

See also

External links

Further reading

Maps

The ''Regional Development Commissions Act'' regionalisation

The most widely know regionalisation of Western Australia is the one defined by the State Government for purposes of economic development administration. Together, these comprise 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 are:

★ Gascoyne

★ Goldfields-Esperance

★ Great Southern

★ Kimberley

★ Mid West

★ Peel

★ Pilbara

★ South West

★ Wheatbelt

Political regionalisations

Under Australia's three-tiered system of government, Western Australia is divided into federal electoral divisions (for election to the Australian House of Representatives), state electoral districts (for election to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly), state electoral regions (for election to the Western Australian Legislative Council), and local government areas.

Natural regionalisations

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 IBRA regions, the World Wildlife Fund's ecoregions, 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.

Land management regionalisations

Regionalisations of Western Australia used for land management and conservation purposes include the natural regionalisations such as IBRA, and also some less natural regionalisations such as Landcare Districts and the Department of Agriculture's "Land-use Zones".

Fisheries management regionalisations

The Department of Fisheries tends to separate the state into four main regions for the purpose of regulating recreational fishing: - Pilbara Kimberley, Gascoyne, WestCoast and South Coast.

Land tenure regionalisations

Much of Western Australia is divided into counties, districts and divisions for the purposes of identifying land lots.

Marketing regionalisations

Marketing of tourism regions generally follows the ''Regional Development Commissions Act'' regions, but some areas have been treated as distinct regions for the purposes of marketing campaigns. For example, the ''WA Atlas - the RAC map book of Western Australia'' included "Australia's Coral Coast" for the coastal region between Cervantes to Exmouth; inland areas of Western Australia as "Australia's Golden Outback" and areas north of the the Tropic of Capricorn "Australia's North West". In this scheme the remaining area is "Australia's South West".

Wine regions

The most prominent example is the wine regions, each of which has a trademark that is afforded protection under the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980. In Western Australia the regions are all within the south western corner. They are listed here - from the most northerly:-

★ 'Swan District'

★ 'Perth Hills'

★ 'Peel'

★ 'Geographe'

★ 'Margaret River'

★ 'Blackwood Valley'

★ 'Manjimup'

★ 'Pemberton'

★ 'Great Southern' - into smaller areas - Frankland River, Denmark, Mount Barker, Porongurup, and Albany

Other regionalisations

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) divides the state up into regions, reducing the Kimberley, Pilbara and Goldfields regions to "The Interior", invoking similarity to the nebulous Outback category found for inland Australia.

Census and ABS

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.

See also

★ List of regions in Australia

★ Geography of Western Australia

External links

★ The Regional Development Commissions Act 1993 (as amended)

★ Fisheries - recreational fishing regions

Further reading

★ ''Regions Western Australia''. Perth, W.A. : Dept. of Commerce and Trade. Issue 1 (Mar./June 1998)-issue 11 (Feb. 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 Deparment., 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

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