A small group of infographics and data visualisation experts in Sydney have put together an interactive map using the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data to show the Australian suburbs where new migrants from various countries congregate.

The company, Small Multiples explained that it created this project to reveal the birthplaces of the biggest immigrant populations in suburbs and towns across Australia.

It’s important to note this as these maps do not show the actual breakdown of the population by the country of birth. For such details you will have to refer to the ABS census page.

The graphics in the tool colour codes suburbs according to the largest number of overseas born residents living in the suburb using that ABS census data from 2011.

However, the colour coding has a dramatic and intended effect of suggesting that large sections of major cities are dominated by migrants from certain countries when in reality they account for a small percentage of the suburbs population.

Take West Melbourne for instance. There are over 1800 Australian born residents. Of the overseas born in the suburb, China ranked the top country with 200 or about 5% of the population. The infographics colour codes West Melbourne red, the key indicating that the largest number of overseas born people in the suburb were born in China.

When put together with nearby suburbs with similar statistics, the map looks like the one you see above. This brought out some curious and sometime nasty observations from a growing online community commenting on the statistics.

Nevertheless, it may be a useful tool for RMAs – assuming the creators have copied across the ABS statistics correctly. Perhaps RMAs might find it useful for advertising and promotion work. SBS has created a webpage to host the tool.