LetterAgent
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Home > Guides > Addressing a Letter to Australia
LetterAgent cannot mail a letter to Australia, because its recipients must have a United States or Canadian address, but addressing an Australian letter is simple once you know the local order. Put the recipient name first, then the street address, then the suburb, state abbreviation, and four-digit postcode, with AUSTRALIA in capitals on the last line.
Australian addresses read from the specific to the general, much like an American address, but the suburb does work that a city name does elsewhere. A Sydney address, for example, names the suburb (say, Surry Hills) rather than just "Sydney." The state abbreviation and postcode share the last domestic line. Keep each element on its own line, and do not add a county or province: Australia has states and territories, not counties.
| Line | What goes there | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recipient name | Ms Jane Carter |
| 2 | Street number and street name | 14 King Street |
| 3 | Suburb, state abbreviation, postcode | Surry Hills NSW 2010 |
| 4 | Destination country, in capitals | AUSTRALIA |
Australia has six states and two mainland territories, each with a short abbreviation that sorting machines read. New South Wales is NSW, Victoria is VIC, Queensland is QLD, South Australia is SA, Western Australia is WA, Tasmania is TAS, the Australian Capital Territory is ACT, and the Northern Territory is NT. Write the abbreviation in capitals, directly before the postcode, with a single space between them. A postcode on its own is not enough: the same four digits can repeat across states, so the abbreviation pins the letter to the right region.
Australian postcodes are always four digits, and the first digit gives a rough clue to the state: postcodes starting with 0 cover the Northern Territory, 1 and 2 cover New South Wales and the ACT, 3 covers Victoria, 4 covers Queensland, 5 covers South Australia, 6 covers Western Australia, and 7 covers Tasmania. You do not need to decode the number yourself, but a postcode that starts with the wrong digit for the state you wrote is a sign something got copied wrong. Double-check the postcode against the recipient's own writing, not against a guess from a map.
Flats and units go at the start of the street line, in the form "Unit 3, 14 King Street" or "3/14 King Street." Both forms are understood, but the spelled-out "Unit" version is clearer for an overseas sender. For a PO box, drop the street line entirely and write "PO Box 482, Surry Hills NSW 2010" instead. A locked bag address works the same way: "Locked Bag 12" replaces the street line. Never write both a street address and a PO box on the same envelope, since the two can point to different delivery points and sorting staff must pick one.
Put your return address in the top left corner of the envelope, with your own country name in capitals on its last line. If the letter cannot be delivered in Australia, the return address is how it finds its way back to you, though international returns can take a long while. Write the destination country line in capitals and, if your own post office asks for it, add an airmail sticker or marking. Print clearly or use a printed label: handwriting that a machine cannot read is the most common reason an international letter stalls.
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