Open Government, Queensland Government API

Beginner's Pick Government / No Auth Required Beginner HTTPS
Free to Use
85 A
Measured Score 0 50 100 Speed 22/30 Consistency 20/20 Security 20/20 Browser access 15/15 Transparency 8/15 TESTED 2026-08-10

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.

JSON Response · Captured
{
  "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.

Request
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.

HTTP 404 Requesting a path that does not exist text/html

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.

Empty results array Search keyword does not match any dataset names or descriptions.
Try different or simpler keywords. Browse the web portal to identify exact dataset names you can use in queries.
404 Not Found Incorrect CKAN action name or malformed API URL.
Check the CKAN API docs and ensure you are using the correct action (e.g., "package_search" not "dataset_search").
Large response payload Some datasets contain many resources or extensive metadata.
Use the "rows" and "start" parameters to paginate results and limit the response size.

Measured Score Breakdown

Live HTTP request to the API endpoint

Speed 22/30
Consistency 20/20
Security 20/20
Browser access 15/15
Transparency 8/15
Endpoint Response Time 56ms

Fully tested on Aug 10, 2026

Technical Specifications

Auth No Auth
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category Government
Difficulty Beginner
Endpoint last called: 2026-08-10

Similar APIs

View All →