Gather data

Gather data

The NSW Office of Local Government has set up a grants project to improve communities. Funds are available to local councils to undergo major works to prepare them for the future. This could involve a project in the area of acess to services, environmental quality, community or enhancing liveability.

To establish which area of your community is most in need, you first need to gather data on how your community is changing. The Australian Bureau of Statistics provides community data in a time series format that you can use for this purpose.

Here are the steps you need to follow to download data about your local community:

1. Before visiting the Australian Bureau of Statistics to get statistics you need to know the name of your local government area. Enter your school address into this search box on the NSW Office of Local Government website to find the name of your local council area.

2. Visit the Australian Bureau of Statistics website to download statistics about your local area.

   1. Click on the ‘Census’ button at the top of the screen.

   2. Enter the name of your local council into the QuickStats Search bar under the heading 'Data by Geography'.

   3. Unless you need older data for comparison, use the data from the most recent year.

   4. Copy the link for this page so that you can refer back to this data as necessary.

   5. Click on the small link 'Search for a Community Profile' under the name of the local council to get downloadable Excel files for use in Tasks 2 and 3.

   6. You will need to type your local council name into the Search bar again.

   7. Download the 'General Community Profile' Excel file to your device.

3. Have a brief look at the 'QuickStats page' and discuss what you see. Are there any statistics about your area that surprise you?