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About AusStats
AusStats provides online access to a range of Australian Bureau of Statistics publications, including 1996 and 2001 Census information. Many of the publications are available in PDF format, as Excel spreadsheets or tables that can be changed using SuperTABLE.
About this guide
This guide will cover searching and browsing for statistics and Census information in AusStats. There is a section at the end of the guide on how to construct a search strategy if you are unfamiliar with this.
The guide should take you about 30 minutes to complete. You may like to print it so you can refer to a printed copy while you are working online; it is about 7 pages long.
This guide is divided into the following steps:
Step 1 - Getting started
Step 2 - Searching AusStats
Step 3 - Census data
Step 4 - ABS products
Step 4 - Software needed
Step 5 - Help
A simple way to access AusStats is via the direct link on the Library homepage or via Databases A-Z. You will need to enter your Curtin ID and Password.
You can also access AusStats via Gecko: Gateway to Library Databases (once you have logged in, select the Title tab and search for AusStats). If you are having trouble using Gecko, you may like to look at our Step-by-Step Guide.
There are several ways to search AusStats.
Statistics
You can browse for statistics by title, topic, catalogue number or release date by clicking on Statistics near the top of the page. This page also has links to the most popular statistics such as Australia’s current population, consumer price index and average wages and earnings.
Title
You can browse alphabetically by title.
Topic
From this page you will be presented with five main categories:
Under each category are links to more specific sub-categories which you can click on. Then you can look at all the results on that topic, although the results list is not ordered by date.
Catalogue Number
ABS publications are identified by a five digit number.
There is an ABS catalogue on Level 4 Government Collection so you can find the catalogue number of the publication you want.
Catalogue of Publications and Products P 31 (94) 10084
By Release Date
There are ABS publications from 1907 until the present, listed by month.
Themes
You can browse for collections of articles and statistics on a particular theme (e.g. economy, environment and energy, industry or people) or by state. Here you can find links to ABS releases on that particular theme and also links to other relevant information sources such as government departments and other organisations.
Using the search box
You can use the ABS search box in the top right hand corner to do a quick search for statistics by topic, year, title or catalogue number e.g. health Perth 2005.
You can narrow or widen your search results by using Boolean operators e.g.
This section provides 1996 and 2001 Census information. It can be accessed by clicking on the Census link in the grey toolbar.
Click on Census data under the Previous Censuses section. You can search for 2001 Census data by location name, topic, product type and location map. 1996 data by is available by location only.
Location Name
You can search for information at a number of levels such as main area (state), local government area (city), state suburb and postal area. Data is in the form of Excel spreadsheets and the Basic Community Profile contains statistics on births, deaths, age, gender, immigration, education, marital status, dwellings, income, unemployment, religion, language and internet use.
There are a number of ways you can search by information:
Search - search for any place name or postal area within Australia.
Address Search - search for a specific address and it and you can select a region that address is included in e.g. the collection district, postal area, suburb, city, state or the whole of Australia.
States and Cities - click on a state or a capital city.
Browse - select a geographical location from the drop-down menu.
Once you have selected your area, a map will appear and you can click on the Select Product button to get your data. There are three options:
QuickStats - gives a general overview of the region such as the major religions, occupations and languages.
Census Tables - you can download an Excel spreadsheet on a specific topic e.g. employment in Cannington. Search for your topic or choose it from the drop-down menu. Choose your topic from the list and click View Census Tables. Click on the Details tab to download the spreadsheet.
Community Profiles - click on the Details tab to download the Basic Community Profile. This will give you basic demographic information for an area, including age, ancestry, income, education, family type and more.
Location Map
You will need to have SVG viewer installed in order to see the maps.
Click on a state, then the region and you can keep narrowing down the area to a town or collection district within that town. Click on the links to download information about the whole region or a collection district. The information will be in the form of an Excel spreadsheet.
Topic
Choose a topic from the browse list or you can search. Select a location and choose QuickStats, Census Tables or Community Profiles.
Product Type
Choose QuickStats, Census Tables or Community Profiles and then you can browse or search by location or topic.
ABS produces a number of publications which are available in AusStats or in print in the Robertson Library. You can browse for these in the Statistics section of the website or use the search box.
AusStats has a Help link in the top right corner of the main page. The Help index gives you many options including a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section, how to order ABS publications, how to download and install SuperTABLE, use Census data, find statistics, contact ABS and much more.
We hope you now feel more confident about using AusStats. If you are unsure, librarians can help you get started and teach you how to find the information you need.
If you need more help with AusStats or any other databases, please contact the Library Enquiries Desk.
