Leslie Massey
The Australian number system encompasses various contexts, including telephone numbers and the traditional counting systems of Indigenous Australians. In terms of telephone numbers, Australia has specific formatting conventions for landlines and mobile phones. Landline numbers consist of a two-digit area code followed by an eight-digit local number, while mobile numbers have ten digits, including a four-digit prefix indicating the service provider. Historically, Australian telephone numbers had a maximum of six digits, and metropolitan area numbers included alphabetic characters. Indigenous Australian number systems, on the other hand, were diverse and often involved more than just numerals, such as birth order names and body-tallying. These systems were used for communication and invitation within and between clans.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Country code | 61 |
| National trunk access code | 0 |
| Maximum number of digits in a telephone number | 10 |
| Landline numbers | 2 digits for the area code followed by 8 digits for the rest of the number |
| Mobile numbers | 10 digits with no area code |
| Australian Aboriginal counting system | Used with message sticks to invite neighbouring clans to events and specify the day and location |
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What You'll Learn
Australian Aboriginal counting system
The Australian Aboriginal counting system was used in conjunction with message sticks sent to neighbouring clans to notify or invite them to gatherings, set-fights, and ball games. Numbers could indicate the day of the meeting (in "moons") and the location (the number of camps away).
A common misconception is that Aboriginal people could only count up to two or three. However, Alfred Howitt, who studied the peoples of southeastern Australia, disproved this in the late nineteenth century.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had little use for large numbers in their daily lives. For example, it was more important to know that they needed to bring two kangaroos back to feed their family than to know how many kangaroos there were in total. As a result, words collected for numbers higher than five usually referred to "many" or "a great many".
Ian Sim, in his work on the Yuwaalawaay language near Goodooga on the Queensland-New South Wales border, identified the following pattern for counting: biyarr-maa = 5 or one hand, while bulaarruu-maa = 10 or two hands. In South-East Queensland language groups, wangra or wangarra is a common word for 'one', while bular or bularu is a commonly used word for 'two'. From this, we also find bularu wongarra as the word for 'three' and bularu bularu the word for 'four'.
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Australian trunk access code
Australia's national trunk access code is 0. This trunk code is used for calls made within Australia to numbers in other areas. The trunk code is followed by the area code and then the local number. The first four digits of the local number specify the Call Collection Area (CCA) or exchange, and the remaining digits specify a number at that exchange.
The Australian trunk access code is not used for calls made from outside Australia. Instead, the international trunk prefix "+" is used, followed by the country code for Australia, which is 61. The country code is then followed by the nine-digit national significant number.
Australian landline numbers have eight digits, written in the form xxxx xxxx. Landlines also have a two-digit area code, resulting in a total of ten digits when the trunk code is included for domestic calls. Mobile numbers are written in the form of ten digits, with the trunk code 0 and the mobile indicator 4 included when dialled within Australia. Mobile numbers are written as 04XX XXX XXX within Australia and +61 4XX XXX XXX for an international audience.
The Australian trunk code is also used for mobile numbers when calling from within Australia, but it is dropped when placing an international call.
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Country code
The country code for Australia is 61. This is followed by the nine-digit national significant number. When written in international format, the country code is preceded by a '+' symbol, which automatically provides the correct instructions to the local network to dial an international number. For example, an Australian mobile number would be written as +61 4XX XXX XXX.
The Australian national trunk access code, 0, is not used for calls originating from outside Australia. When dialling an Australian number from outside the country, the '+' symbol or the international access code of the country from which the call is being made is used, followed by the country code 61, the area code, and the local number. For example, if calling a Sydney number from the US, the number would be dialled as 011-61-2-1234 5678.
Australian mobile numbers have 10 digits, whereas landline numbers are no more than 8 digits.
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Local telephone numbers
When writing Australian phone numbers, the area code is often included in parentheses, especially for domestic numbers. For example, a landline number in NSW or the ACT would be written as 02 5550 4321. Mobile numbers are written in the form of ten digits, including the Australian trunk code '0' and the mobile indicator '4', followed by eight digits. Mobile numbers are generally written as 04XX XXX XXX within Australia.
When dialling a number in another area within Australia, it is necessary to dial the trunk code '0', followed by the area code, and then the local number. To access numbers in the same area, only the eight digits concerned need to be dialled. In major centres, the first four digits specify the Call Collection Area (CCA), also known as an exchange, and the remaining digits specify a number at that exchange. Smaller exchanges in more remote areas may have fewer than 100 connected numbers.
Up until the 1960s, the first one or two digits of telephone numbers in metropolitan areas were alphabetic, with each letter representing a distinct number on the telephone dial. Each one-letter or two-letter code signified an exchange within an urban area. Rural and regional areas typically relied on manual exchanges or only one automatic exchange for the whole town, so rural and regional numbers did not feature these letter prefixes.
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Mobile numbers
Mobile phone numbers in Australia have 10 digits and start with 04, which indicates that the service required is a mobile number. Mobile numbers are written as 04XX XXX XXX within Australia, or as +61 4XX XXX XXX for an international audience. The international format uses a plus symbol ’+’ to represent the international prefix, followed by a country code ('61' for Australia).
The format of mobile numbers is the result of mobile carriers advertising numbers in a way that clearly identified the owning telco before mobile number portability was introduced on 25 September 2001. The xy-digit codes (sometimes xy z) are allocated per network. Since the introduction of number portability, there is no longer a fixed relationship between the mobile phone number and the network it uses.
When dialling a mobile number from a landline or mobile phone in Australia, the 0 must be included. For example, a person who dials 7010 5678 on a landline or mobile phone in Melbourne (i.e. within area 03) is connected to 03 7010 5678.
In 2015, as part of the Telecommunications Numbering Plan 2015, the prefix 05 (other than 0550) was also reserved for digital mobile phones.
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Frequently asked questions
Australian landline numbers have eight digits, consisting of a two-digit area code and an eight-digit local number. When calling within Australia, the number is preceded by the Australian trunk prefix '0' and the area code: 0x xxxx xxxx.
Mobile numbers in Australia have ten digits. When dialled within Australia, the number is written in the format 04xx xxx xxx. For international calls, the country code for Australia, '61', is followed by the ten-digit mobile number: +61 4xx xxx xxx.
Australia's Indigenous people had many methods for counting beyond just numbers. For example, the Kaurna language of the Adelaide Plains has words for "first born child", "second born child", up to the "tenth child". The Australian Aboriginal counting system was also used with message sticks sent to neighbouring clans to alert them to meetings and events. There were also contrary examples that disproved the misconception that Aboriginal languages only had numbers up to three or four.
