Open Government, Queensland Government API
Overview
The Queensland Government Open Data API provides free access to thousands of datasets published by the Queensland (Australia) Government, covering topics like environment, transport, health, and demographics. No API key is required, and the platform uses the standard CKAN REST API. It's a great resource for beginners looking to work with real Australian government data.
Beginner Tip
Start by browsing datasets at "https://www.data.qld.gov.au/" and use the CKAN API endpoint for programmatic access. The "package_search" action with a keyword query is the fastest way to discover relevant data.
Measurement Record
What actually happened when we called this API from our own infrastructure. Every value below was recorded by the request, not copied from the provider's documentation.
- Request
- GET https://www.data.qld.gov.au/api/3/action/package_search?q=transport&rows=5
- Result
- HTTP 200 · application/json · 90,542 bytes · compressed
- Response time
- 56 ms (median of 3) · fastest 54 ms
- Transport
- TLSv1.3 · TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 · certificate issued by Amazon
- Browser CORS
- Allowed — Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
- Served by
- nginx
- Recorded
- 2026-08-10
Fields Returned
Top-level fields present in the response we captured, with the type and value we actually received.
| Field | Type | Value received |
|---|---|---|
| count | integer | 572 |
| facets | object | {0 fields} |
| results | array | [1 item] |
| sort | string | score desc, metadata_modified desc |
| search_facets | object | {0 fields} |
Captured Response
Captured from a real request to https://www.data.qld.gov.au/api/3/action/package_search?q=transport&rows=5 on 2026-08-10. Long arrays and nested objects are truncated to keep the shape readable.
{
"help": "https://www.data.qld.gov.au/api/3/action/help_show?name=package_search",
"success": true,
"result": {
"count": 572,
"facets": {},
"results": [
{
"…": "(37 more fields)"
}
],
"sort": "score desc, metadata_modified desc",
"search_facets": {}
}
} Field Reference
success Whether the API call succeeded. count Total number of datasets matching the query. results Array of matching dataset metadata objects. Implementation Example
Calls a real endpoint of this API. Replace any placeholder credentials with your own key.
const url = "https://www.data.qld.gov.au/api/3/action/package_search?q=transport&rows=5";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data); What Can You Build?
Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.
How This API Fails
We deliberately sent this API a broken request and recorded exactly what came back on 2026-08-10. Knowing the shape of an error before you hit it makes error handling much easier to write.
Returned an HTML error page rather than JSON — worth knowing if your client assumes every response can be parsed as JSON.
Common Errors & Troubleshooting
Generated guidance based on this API's documentation, not observed by us. Treat it as a starting point and check against the provider's own error reference.
Measured Score Breakdown
Live HTTP request to the API endpoint
Fully tested on Aug 10, 2026
Technical Specifications
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