OSINT of Australia
This post is part of UNISHKA Research Service’s ongoing OSINT series. If you’re interested in more, subscribe to our Substack and follow us on social media to stay in the loop. We regularly share country-specific OSINT toolkits, along with case studies, investigative tips, and real-world examples to support open-source investigations. Our aim is to support journalists, analysts, and engaged citizens with actionable resources and insights.
If we’ve missed any good sources, just drop us a comment or send an email to abawer@unishka.com — we’ll make sure to add them to the toolkit!
Entry #30 OSINT Series
Open Data Portals
Data.gov.au — The Australian government’s central open-data portal. Useful for datasets across transport, land, business statistics, etc.
Geoscience Australia — Maintains geographic and spatial datasets (maps, satellite imagery) which are useful for property/land-related OSINT.
Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documents, digital images, bibliographic and holdings data of items which are not available digitally, and a free faceted-search engine as a discovery tool.
DataACT: Access a whole range of data relating to ACT (Australian Capital Territory) and its population, with categories ranging from Arts, Culture and Events to Justice, Safety and Emergency and Transport.
Data.NSW (New South Wales): With over 10,000 datasets, Data.NSW is the New South Wales’ main portal for NSW government open data.
Transport for NSW Data and Research: Transport for NSW publishes a number of datasets, statistics and visualisations on the Transport for NSW website such as traffic volume data, car registration statistics, crash statistics and patronage data.
City of Sydney Data Hub: The City of Sydney Data Hub is a one stop shop for Sydney-related open data, in categories including Community, Public Domain, Regulatory, Cultural, Economic and Environmental.
The NSW Spatial Data Catalogue (NSDC) is the central hub for metadata on spatial data from both local and state government sources in New South Wales.
NSW Planning Portal: Here you can search and download datasets and other resources related to planning. Think planning policies, resource information, environmental data and more.
NSW SEED: The Central Resource for Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data (SEED) serves as the primary platform for accessing environmental data in New South Wales. It provides access to more than 2,600 datasets.
NT Government Open Data Portal (Northern Territory): This portal contains open data released by NT government agencies. Search over 700 datasets or request additional data.
City of Darwin Open Data Hub: Explore and download open data related to the City of Darwin, and use tools to combine and analyse different datasets. There’s also a Charts and Statistics page, where you can see a number of stats at a glance, like the number of playground items, the length of all footpaths, and more.
Queensland (QLD)
Queensland Government Open Data Portal: Access over 2,700 datasets and 11,200 resources, including a dedicated Transport category.
Department of Transport and Main Roads: View transport and road statistics, including licensing, registration, and road safety data.
Brisbane City Council Open Data: Explore datasets across areas such as Arts, Environment, Events, and Transport, available in multiple formats under CC BY 3.0.
Queensland Mining & Exploration Data: Browse open mining and exploration datasets with an interactive geospatial mapping tool (CC BY 4.0).
DataSA: The South Australian Government’s data directory, offering over 1,600 datasets searchable by organisation, category, tag, format, or licence.
Data.VIC: Your go-to for discovering and accessing open data from the Victorian state government. Search by keyword, organisation, category and format.
City of Melbourne Data: Get Melbourne-related open data across several areas including transportation, sensor data, business, environment and people.
Department of Transport Open Data Hub: A resource for transport-related data for building transport apps (among other things). It currently contains over 80 datasets.
DataWA: The central repository for WA government data, DataWA contains over 2500 datasets from more than 60 organisations. They also provide several data toolkits, each aimed at a different group of data consumers like the general public, data professionals, and app developers.
Main Roads Open Data, Maps & Apps: Find WA Main Roads data and information in areas such as traffic, road safety, and heavy vehicles. There’s also a map gallery which can be refined by keyword and an app listing.
The Australian Government Organisations Register (AGOR) provides information on the function, composition, origins and other details of 1,346 Australian Government entities and bodies.
Research Data Australia - Find, access, and re-use data for research from over one hundred Australian research organisations, government agencies, and cultural institutions.
Company & Business Registries
ABN Search - ABN Search refers to the Australian Business Number Search, a tool provided by the Australian Business Register (ABR) that allows you to look up information about businesses and organizations registered in Australia.
ASIC Registers - Primary regulator for corporations in Australia. Search for: company details, business names, registered addresses, lodged documents, banned/disqualified officers, etc.
Search ASIC Connect - It lets you look up official information about companies, business names, and organizations registered in Australia.
Verify NSW - A public register where people (consumers, businesses, authorities) can look up and verify licences, registrations, and credentials held by tradespeople, professionals or businesses in NSW.
Find Corporations and Businesses within Australia - CorporateListing
Supply Nation provides Australia’s leading database of verified Indigenous businesses: search by business name, product, service, area, or category.
OpenSanctions Australia - Contains 6,295 entities connected with Australia. This may include sanctioned entities, politically-exposed persons (PEPs), and their close associates, or entities involved in criminal activity.
Australian companies research guide - National Library of Australia
Land Records and Maps
Tip: When doing a property search, you often need a precise address, parcel number, title reference or deposited plan. Also, title searches are usually paid services and may have varying privacy rules (you may not always see full owner details in some circumstances).
ACTImapi: From bushfires and floods to land custodianship and significant species maps, ACTmapi is the ACT government’s interactive spatial data portal.
Land Information System Tasmania (LIST): LIST is a data portal for Tasmanian location-based information. There’s also a map application that helps you to find and use information about land and property in Tasmania.
LocationSA Map Viewer: An interactive tool to view, download, and share spatial data and maps of South Australia, including roads, satellite, and topographic views.
Queensland Spatial Catalogue: Search, view, and download various spatial datasets, including maps, imagery, and text data.
NSW Land Registry Services - Search for land titles, instruments (transfers, mortgages, caveats) via their portal.
Victoria LANDATA - Offers property certificate, title history, plan, and more.
Titles Queensland - You can purchase title searches, historical interests, survey plans, dealing documents via OTIS or via Titles Queensland portal.
Land Services South Australia - Obtain “Register Search / Certificate of Title” copies, plan, instrument search, title history.
Western Australia Landgate - The state’s land information authority; offers title, survey, spatial data, map viewers, datasets via DataWA.
Land Registries Australia (Resource Guide)
OnTheHouse.com.au is a website archiving the advertisements on the larger property websites.
Planning Alerts - Find out for free what is being built and knocked down in your area, anywhere in Australia.
PPSR Search - Doing a $2 PPSR search on an organisation can show you whether it has any security interests registered against its assets. This can help protect you if you are looking at lending the organisation money or doing business with it.
People Search
Aussiefinder: Searches on five different social media platforms narrowed down to Australian results.
Ancestry (AU): This website aggregates various data sources (e.g. electoral roll, immigration and naturalisation records).
Person Lookup: Data sourced from ‘public records’, not sure from where though.
The Ryerson Index: Death notices and obituaries in Australian newspapers.
Herald Sun My Tributes is an online obituary and tribute section of the Herald Sun — one of Australia’s major newspapers (based in Melbourne, Victoria).
Australian Cemeteries Index: Search for people and cemeteries by name or ID.
Rookwood Cemetery: The largest cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere.
Find a Grave: Not Australia-specific per se, but features data from Oz.
Crime Map (Credit: OSINT.Fans) - These maps were useful to assess the level of crime where the missing person used to live or had gone missing.
Reverse Australia: A community-sourced database of phone numbers.
Licensed Professions
Verify NSW - A public register where people (consumers, businesses, authorities) can look up and verify licences, registrations, and credentials held by tradespeople, professionals or businesses in NSW.
Court Data Australia - Search over 44 million criminal + civil court list records
(Guide) Full Address Search with the Unclaimed Money Portal - Various government organisations are providing a convenient service to find unclaimed money. People in Australia can visit these websites looking for funds that could be owed to someone alive or deceased.
Australian Dating Networks
Australian Person Lookup - Multiple, authoritative sources with enhanced data for over 9M people Australia wide
Australian Public Records - If you are looking for someone in Australia then there is a decent chance they can be found on this site.
Early Australian Census Records - Only some records of individuals have survived. This guide lists all known Australian census and muster records at State Library Victoria or online.
People Search (Australia) - Free Australian people finder. Whether you’re looking to find an old friend from school, military buddy, lost love, or anyone else, People Search has you covered.
PPSR Search - Before going into business with, lending money to or buying valuable goods from an individual, you can search the PPSR to check if there are security interests registered against their personal property. You can only search on a individual’s details if you have an authorised purpose to do so.
Archives
National Library of Australia: Digitised newspapers, maps, gazettes and more.
Newspapers.com: International site featuring four Aussie papers.
National Library of Australia: Capturing Australian websites since 1996.
Our Digital Island: Archived collection of websites from Tasmania.
Trove - Includes full text documents, digital images, bibliographic and holdings data of items which are not available digitally, and a free faceted-search engine as a discovery tool.
Vehicle Search
Service New South Wales - Check a vehicle’s registration status and expiry date, restrictions or concessions, compulsory third party (CTP) insurance information and odometer reading.
Vicroads Victoria - Search for registration information recorded in the Victorian Vehicles Register.
QLD Traffic Cameras - This is traffic cameras that is on QLD government site.
Traffic Cameras - Use this site so view live traffic camera footage Australia wide you might see your targets car.
RAV Public Search - The Register of Approved Vehicles (RAV) is searchable using the vehicle’s permanently marked Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).
Do a used car or vehicle search - PPSR Australian Government - Buying a used car comes with risk – doing a car search on the PPSR can help you check if the car you’re buying is recorded as free from debt. It may also tell you if the car is recorded as stolen or written off.
Green Vehicle Guide - Search for a specific vehicle or compare several different vehicles and view a downloadable and shareable summary of data on emissions, fuel consumption, electric range, cost and noise data.
Flight and Vessel Tracking
Legal and Court Records
Court Data Australia - Search over 44 million criminal + civil court list records
High Court of Australia (HCA) – You can view decided cases, summaries and some documents. Files from 1903-1980 are in the national archives; from 1981-2019 held by the court; from 2020 onwards in their Digital Lodgment System (DLS).
Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory – A non-party may access court files if they show a sufficient interest; not all documents are freely available.
Federal Court of Australia & Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia – Use the “Federal Law Search” tool for public-access case information.
The Supreme Court of New South Wales Online Registry allows parties and registered users to search civil case details, download documents, etc.
The Queensland Courts portal allows search for court files in Supreme/District Courts, obtains certain civil/ criminal/land/appeal documents.
The Public Record Office Victoria hosts many historical court-case records (1840s-1980s) searchable by party name.
AustLII publishes sentencing decisions (especially appellate or notable cases).
Tenders and Procurements
AusTender - The Australian Government’s procurement information system
Australian Capital Territory –Tenders ACT
New South Wales - NSW eTendering
Northern Territory - Quotations and Tenders Online
Queensland - QTenders
South Australia –Tenders SA
Tasmania - Tasmanian Government Tenders
Victoria – Buying for Victoria
Western Australia - Tenders WA.
Other Toolkits
OSINT Tools Australia (Paulpogoda) - Github
Australian OSINT Public Data Sources - OSINT Fans
OSINT Methods and Resources for Australian Investigators and Analysts
Australia OSINT - Start.me
Miscellaneous
Want more tools? Check out our full collection of OSINT resources here: https://unishka.com/resources/
If we’ve missed any good sources, just drop us a comment or send an email to abawer@unishka.com — we’ll make sure to add them to the toolkit!