EquiDiaryHorse papers in Australia: property registration, brands and microchips, and the state borders
Last checked: 12 October 2026
An Australian horse has no passport. What the law registers, in every state and territory except Tasmania, is the land the horse is kept on. Identity lives elsewhere: in brands, microchips and stud books for the horses that have them, and in nothing official at all for many that do not. And the paperwork for moving a horse changes at each state border.
This is a summary of published rules, not legal advice. Each state and territory runs its own scheme, and fees, forms and entry conditions change. Check with your state's department before relying on any detail here.
In the UK or the US? Read the UK passport guide or the US papers guide instead.
No passport, and no national scheme yet
A national horse register has been on the agenda for years. In February 2020 agriculture ministers asked a working group, led by Victoria and Queensland, to develop a proposal. Its final report in October 2022 recommended building on what already exists, property identification codes and movement records kept by industry, and explicitly rejected mandatory microchipping and a national movement database as significant extra cost for minimal improvement in tracing. In December 2022 ministers accepted the recommendation to strengthen property identification and national movement reporting, to be overseen by an industry-led taskforce.
That taskforce first met in April 2024. Agriculture Victoria, which runs its secretariat, says its progress report has been provided for national agreement and that discussions on an implementation plan, with a broader, cross-sectoral approach to traceability, are underway. As of this check there is no national horse register, no national microchip requirement and no launch date. If you read that "every horse property will need a PIC and every move over 24 hours must be recorded", that describes a proposal, not law.
The land is registered, not the horse
The scheme that does exist is the one used for livestock: a Property Identification Code, or PIC, tied to the property, so that animals can be traced in a disease outbreak or a natural disaster. For horses it looks like this:
| State or territory | Registration for keeping one horse | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | a PIC, "even if you only have one horse", agistment properties included; in place since September 2012 | usually renewed every three years; horses themselves need not be identified under NSW law |
| Victoria | a PIC for a property with one or more horses, even temporarily | applied for online, free |
| Queensland | registration as a biosecurity entity, for anyone keeping one or more horses, agistees included | lasts three years; movement records are compulsory (below) |
| Western Australia | registration as a livestock owner, with a PIC | unusually, the horse itself must be identified too: a registered brand or an approved identifier such as a microchip, before six months of age in the South West Land Division (18 months elsewhere) or before it moves |
| South Australia | a PIC if you keep one or more horses, donkeys or mules | renewed every two years |
| Tasmania | not currently mandatory for horses; a PIC is optional | a voluntary traceability pilot app, issuing each horse a digital "passport", ran from March to June 2026 |
| Northern Territory | a PIC, regardless of the size of the block, agisting included | free |
| ACT | a PIC for any property with horses |
A PIC says where a horse is kept; it says nothing about which horse. Two horses on the same agistment property share it, and a horse that moves takes none of it along.
Where the horse itself is identified
Apart from Western Australia's brand rule, identity is mostly a matter for whoever registers the horse, and the closest things to a passport are the racing and breed books:
- Thoroughbreds. The Australian Stud Book requires foals to be microchipped and parentage-verified, and freeze-branded unless they go straight to stud. Racing adds lifetime traceability rules introduced in August 2016: owners notify Racing Australia within seven days of deciding to retire a horse, and report a death within 24 hours for a named horse.
- Standardbreds. Microchipping has been compulsory for foals born from 1 September 2017.
- Australian Stock Horses. Since September 2024 the society accepts either a visible brand or a readable microchip.
- Hendra-vaccinated horses. Every horse vaccinated against Hendra must be microchipped first, and each dose is recorded against that chip in a central database, which makes the vaccination record one of the few identity links many horses have.
Breed and competition registration papers are the society's record of the horse. They are worth keeping and transferring, but they are not a government document, and they cover only the horses that are registered.
Moving: the paperwork is per trip, and per state
Where the UK puts everything in one passport, Australia attaches its paperwork to the journey.
- Queensland: a movement record has to be made before horses move between properties, including trips to events and training. Sender and receiver keep it for two years, or five if the move crosses cattle tick zones, and event venues keep their own arrival and departure records.
- New South Wales: a Transported Stock Statement is required when horses are moved by vehicle, with a free horse-only form. Trips to shows, gymkhanas and pony club, racehorses and harness horses, and working horses are exempt.
- Out of the Queensland cattle tick zone into New South Wales: movements are subject to strict controls, usually treatment before entry, either by an authorised officer in Queensland, who issues a biosecurity certificate, or at the NSW clearing centre at Kirra. A movement record is not accepted as evidence of treatment.
- Into Western Australia: a species-specific health certificate (form LB1) has to reach Quarantine WA at least three days before arrival, with the original travelling with the horse, and liver fluke treatment conditions apply.
- Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory have their own entry conditions. Check the receiving state before you float, not at the border.
When ownership changes
Outside racing and the breed societies, there is no official register of horse ownership to transfer, so the evidence of a sale is whatever the buyer keeps. Racing has its own notification rules; a stud book or society has its own transfer process. For everyone else, a dated receipt or bill of sale naming the horse, its brand or microchip number if it has one, and the breed papers handed over are the record. They are worth keeping with the horse's other documents rather than in an inbox.
What to keep
- the PIC or biosecurity registration for every property where the horse is kept, including agistment
- the horse's brand description and microchip number, if it has them
- breed or competition registration papers, and the transfer when it changes hands
- Hendra vaccination certificates, which carry the microchip number
- movement records and health certificates for interstate trips, for as long as your state requires
- the receipt or bill of sale
One place for papers that live in different places
EquiDiary keeps a wallet on each horse: the stud book papers, the microchip certificate, the Hendra certificates and the bill of sale, photographed or as PDFs, readable by everyone you share the horse with and editable only by you. Log each trip as a transport entry with where the horse went, and the history of where it has been is there when someone asks. It is your record, not a substitute for your state's movement records.
Start free for 3 monthsSources
- Australian Government — feasibility of a national horse traceability register
- National Horse Traceability Working Group — report to Agriculture Ministers (2022) and Agriculture Ministers' Meeting communiqué, December 2022
- Agriculture Victoria — Horse traceability and taskforce communiqué
- Property registration: NSW Local Land Services, Agriculture Victoria, WA DPIRD, PIRSA, NT Government, ACT Government
- NRE Tasmania — Horses and Tasmanian Government — equine traceability pilot app (2026)
- Queensland DPI — Horse registration and movement records
- NSW Government — Transported Stock Statements and NSW DPI — cattle tick entry requirements
- WA DPIRD — Importing livestock into WA
- Rules of the Australian Stud Book, Racing Victoria — horse traceability, Racing WA — microchipping of Standardbred foals and Australian Stock Horse Society — identification
Rules are revised by each state and territory; check the current version before relying on any detail here.
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