Data

NRS-1272 | 1828 Census: Alphabetical return

NSW State Archives Collection
AGY-16 | Colonial Secretary and Registrar of the Records of New South Wales (1821-1824) Colonial Secretary (1824-1856) Colonial Secretary or Principal Secretary to the Government (1856-1859) Chief Secretary [I]
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ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2FANDS&rft_id=https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ednqkf/ADLIB_RNSW110001515&rft.title=NRS-1272 | 1828 Census: Alphabetical return&rft.identifier=https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ednqkf/ADLIB_RNSW110001515&rft.publisher=Office of the Registrar General [II]&rft.description=1828 Census: Alphabetical returnThis is the first census ever to be taken in Australia and the most complete one extant. It records both convicts and free persons but does not include serving military personnel and their families. (1)The 1828 Census was compiled in six volumes [SZ978-983]. In all but the first volume the title is given as ‘New South Wales Census, taken in the Month of November 1828’.It is a list in alphabetical order by surname compiled from the census returns for individual householders and government establishments. Each individual has been allocated a running number within his or her letter of the alphabet. Family groups living at the same household are listed together.Beside running number and name the list records age, free or bond, ship, year, sentence, religion, employment, residence, district, total number of acres, acres cleared, acres cultivated, horses, horned cattle, sheep, remarks.Inside the cover of the first volume [SZ978] there is a typescript note dated 13 July 1932 and signed by F.M. O’Donohue, Acting Registrar General:‘These books were handed to Mr Hayce-Williams [sic] by Mr Fosbery, when the latter was retiring from the position of Inspector General of Police. Mr Hayes-Williams told me that they were given over to him on his promise to use the utmost care to see that their contents were not divulged.‘It will be noticed that entries 1 to 91 are missing. Mr H.J. Rumsey a few weeks ago gave me the loose sheets herein and stated that he had obtained them from the Home Office in London where a copy of the 1828 Census is filed.’Herbert John Rumsey was the first President of the Society of Australian Genealogists, founded in 1932. (2) He had obtained copies from London from the copy despatched to the Home Office of the 1828 Census now held at The National Archives of the United Kingdom as HO 10/21 to 10/27. (3)Abbreviations and later inclusionsAbbreviations used in the column ‘Free or Bond’ were specified in the printed ‘Instructions for filling up the Returns for the Census of the Year 1828’ dated 1 September 1828:B.C. for Born in the Colony.C.F. for Came Free.F.S. for Free by Servitude.A.P. for Holding an Absolute Pardon.C.P. for Holding a Ticket of Leave.C. for Convict.C.S. for Colonial Sentence.G.S. for Government (or Assigned) Servant. (4)A list of abbreviations dated 16 April 1931 is also included inside the cover of the first volume.At the end of the first volume [SZ978] a ‘Report on European Archives, by Mr F.M. Bladen, Barrister-at-Law, printed 26 August 1903 for the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia is included. A newscutting from the Sydney Morning Herald, 16 July 1932 relating to Thomas Kendall is pasted into the third volume [SZ980] near his entry.BackgroundOn 30 June 1828 the New South Wales Legislative Council passed ‘An Act for ascertaining the Number Names and Condition of the Inhabitants of the Colony of New South Wales and also the Number of Cattle and the Quantity of located cleared and cultivated Land within the said Colony’, known as the Census Act of 1828 (9 Geo. IV No.5). Magistrates were to affix notices in conspicuous places in their districts ‘requiring every householder employer of servants owner or possessor of cattle proprietor or occupier of land’ to answer questions relating to the population and land and stock of the Colony. (5)The Act also provided that in the case of refusal or neglect to answer these questions or the giving of false or untrue answers the Magistrates were able to impose a fine not exceeding Ten Pounds. (6)Printed ‘Instructions for filling up the Returns for the Census of the Year 1828’ dated 1 September 1828 were issued by the Colonial Secretary, Alexander McLeay, to the Magistrates together with a circular dated 18 September 1828 specifying the use of printed forms in the taking of the ‘General Census of the Colony’. (7)Previously Government and General Orders had required convicts to attend a muster to be counted at a specified place on a specific day. (8) For the taking of the census the approach was for constables or other suitable census takers to visit the householders’ properties with the printed forms provided. No date was specified in the Act for the taking of the census but the Magistrates and others were urged to complete their districts as soon as practicable.The earliest returns were received by the Colonial Secretary on 8 November 1828 from Wallis Plains, followed on 20 November by those for Newcastle. (9) In most areas the returns were completed in November 1828, though some areas took longer to submit them to the Colonial Secretary. Amended returns were received as late as November 1829. (10) A circular to Magistrates dated 29 September 1829 required the Magistrates to confirm the correctness of the Census for their area with the last confirmation received on 17 December 1829. (11)The householders’ forms (NRS 1273) were returned by the Magistrates to the Colonial Secretary. The clerks in the Colonial Secretary’s Office then compiled a district abstract (NRS 1274) for each district and statistics for government establishments. Summary statistics were compiled of population and land and stock for each district. An Abstract of the population of the Colony of New South Wales, and of the Land and Livestock held therein was also prepared. These statistics were first published in the Sydney Gazette on 26 September 1829. (12)It is not known when the compilation of the six volumes was completed. In October 1828 the Colonial Secretary Alexander McLeay wrote that ‘it is hoped that when the Returns are abstracted, and the names classed alphabetically, the danger of double entries and omisions will be equally obviated’. (13)Subsequent historyThe volumes of the 1828 Census passed into the possession of the Inspector General of Police. In 1901 the Inspector General made a submission to the Chief Secretary that these records should be placed in the care of the Registrar General. The matter was considered by a committee appointed by the Premier and Chief Secretary. This committee consisted of the Principal Under Secretary of the Premier’s Department (Mr R.C. Critchet Walker), the Inspector General of Police (Mr Edmund Fosbery) and the Registrar General (Mr William Gordon Hayes Williams). It recommended that the records of the 1828 Census be placed in the care of the Registrar General to be kept under lock and key, the Registrar General himself retaining the key. (14) The volumes, along with the case which housed them and its key, were transferred as State archives on 25 March 1965. (15)UNESCO Australian Memory of the World RegisterThe records of the 1828 Census were inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register on 27 February 2019.Endnotes1. Census of New South Wales – November 1828, Edited by Malcolm R Sainty & Keith A Johnson. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1980 and subsequently published, with additional information, on CD-ROM 2001 and Revised Edition 2008, Introduction (PDF) ‘Census of New South Wales November 1828, available from Biographical Database of Australia website, https://www.bda-online.org.au/sources/musters-census/ (accessed 22 February 2019), p.13; NRS 905, Main series of letters received [Colonial Secretary], 1828 [4/2007.2].2. K. A. Johnson, 'Rumsey, Herbert John (1866–1956)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rumsey-herbert-john-8297/text14543, published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 22 February 2019. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, (MUP), 1988.3. TNA (UK): HO Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania: Records., HO 10/21 to HO 10/27, http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C1905858 (accessed 22 February 2019). The Home Office volumes, while including most of the same details, are not identical to the 1828 Census: Alphabetical registers.4. Instructions of 1 September 1828 in NRS 906, Special bundles [Colonial Secretary], 1826: Census of 1828 – instructions, circulars, and samples of forms to be used [4/1097]. 5. Census of 1828 (9 Geo. IV No.5).6. Ibid.7. Instructions of 1 September 1828 and Circular, 18 September 1828 in NRS 906, Special bundles [Colonial Secretary], 1826: Census of 1828 – instructions, circulars, and samples of forms to be used [4/1097].8. For example see Historical Records of Australia Series I, Vol. I, p.678.9. Colonial Secretary; NRS 922, Registers of letters received, 1828 [5/2342] Reel 2929, q.v. Nos. 28/8991 and 28/9341.10. Ibid., q.v. Nos. 29/6673 and 29/8653.11. Ibid., q.v. Nos. 29/8147; NRS 905, Main series of letters received, 1828 Letter No.29/9898 in [4/2056].12. Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 26 September 1829, p.1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2193488 (accessed 21 February 2019).13. NRS 989, Copies of letters to Magistrates, Police etc, 17 October 1828, Out Letter 38/741 [4/3826] pp.493-494, Reel 2807.14. Archives Authority of New South Wales, Disposal Recommendation (DR631).15. AO File 65/0120 and Accession Register.ReferenceCensus of New South Wales – November 1828, Edited by Malcolm R Sainty & Keith A Johnson. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1980 and subsequently published, with additional information, on CD-ROM 2001 and Revised Edition 2008, Introduction (PDF) ‘Census of New South Wales November 1828', available from Biographical Database of Australia website, https://www.bda-online.org.au/sources/musters-census/ (accessed 22 February 2019).&rft.creator=AGY-16 | Colonial Secretary and Registrar of the Records of New South Wales (1821-1824) Colonial Secretary (1824-1856) Colonial Secretary or Principal Secretary to the Government (1856-1859) Chief Secretary [I] &rft_subject=HISTORICAL STUDIES&rft_subject=HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY&rft.type=dataset&rft.language=English Access the data

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1828 Census: Alphabetical return
This is the first census ever to be taken in Australia and the most complete one extant. It records both convicts and free persons but does not include serving military personnel and their families. (1)

The 1828 Census was compiled in six volumes [SZ978-983]. In all but the first volume the title is given as ‘New South Wales Census, taken in the Month of November 1828’.

It is a list in alphabetical order by surname compiled from the census returns for individual householders and government establishments. Each individual has been allocated a running number within his or her letter of the alphabet. Family groups living at the same household are listed together.

Beside running number and name the list records age, free or bond, ship, year, sentence, religion, employment, residence, district, total number of acres, acres cleared, acres cultivated, horses, horned cattle, sheep, remarks.

Inside the cover of the first volume [SZ978] there is a typescript note dated 13 July 1932 and signed by F.M. O’Donohue, Acting Registrar General:

‘These books were handed to Mr Hayce-Williams [sic] by Mr Fosbery, when the latter was retiring from the position of Inspector General of Police. Mr Hayes-Williams told me that they were given over to him on his promise to use the utmost care to see that their contents were not divulged.

‘It will be noticed that entries 1 to 91 are missing. Mr H.J. Rumsey a few weeks ago gave me the loose sheets herein and stated that he had obtained them from the Home Office in London where a copy of the 1828 Census is filed.’

Herbert John Rumsey was the first President of the Society of Australian Genealogists, founded in 1932. (2) He had obtained copies from London from the copy despatched to the Home Office of the 1828 Census now held at The National Archives of the United Kingdom as HO 10/21 to 10/27. (3)

Abbreviations and later inclusions
Abbreviations used in the column ‘Free or Bond’ were specified in the printed ‘Instructions for filling up the Returns for the Census of the Year 1828’ dated 1 September 1828:

B.C. for Born in the Colony.
C.F. for Came Free.
F.S. for Free by Servitude.
A.P. for Holding an Absolute Pardon.
C.P. for Holding a Ticket of Leave.
C. for Convict.
C.S. for Colonial Sentence.
G.S. for Government (or Assigned) Servant. (4)

A list of abbreviations dated 16 April 1931 is also included inside the cover of the first volume.

At the end of the first volume [SZ978] a ‘Report on European Archives, by Mr F.M. Bladen, Barrister-at-Law, printed 26 August 1903 for the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia is included. A newscutting from the Sydney Morning Herald, 16 July 1932 relating to Thomas Kendall is pasted into the third volume [SZ980] near his entry.

Background
On 30 June 1828 the New South Wales Legislative Council passed ‘An Act for ascertaining the Number Names and Condition of the Inhabitants of the Colony of New South Wales and also the Number of Cattle and the Quantity of located cleared and cultivated Land within the said Colony’, known as the Census Act of 1828 (9 Geo. IV No.5). Magistrates were to affix notices in conspicuous places in their districts ‘requiring every householder employer of servants owner or possessor of cattle proprietor or occupier of land’ to answer questions relating to the population and land and stock of the Colony. (5)

The Act also provided that in the case of refusal or neglect to answer these questions or the giving of false or untrue answers the Magistrates were able to impose a fine not exceeding Ten Pounds. (6)

Printed ‘Instructions for filling up the Returns for the Census of the Year 1828’ dated 1 September 1828 were issued by the Colonial Secretary, Alexander McLeay, to the Magistrates together with a circular dated 18 September 1828 specifying the use of printed forms in the taking of the ‘General Census of the Colony’. (7)

Previously Government and General Orders had required convicts to attend a muster to be counted at a specified place on a specific day. (8) For the taking of the census the approach was for constables or other suitable census takers to visit the householders’ properties with the printed forms provided. No date was specified in the Act for the taking of the census but the Magistrates and others were urged to complete their districts as soon as practicable.

The earliest returns were received by the Colonial Secretary on 8 November 1828 from Wallis Plains, followed on 20 November by those for Newcastle. (9) In most areas the returns were completed in November 1828, though some areas took longer to submit them to the Colonial Secretary. Amended returns were received as late as November 1829. (10) A circular to Magistrates dated 29 September 1829 required the Magistrates to confirm the correctness of the Census for their area with the last confirmation received on 17 December 1829. (11)

The householders’ forms (NRS 1273) were returned by the Magistrates to the Colonial Secretary. The clerks in the Colonial Secretary’s Office then compiled a district abstract (NRS 1274) for each district and statistics for government establishments. Summary statistics were compiled of population and land and stock for each district. An Abstract of the population of the Colony of New South Wales, and of the Land and Livestock held therein was also prepared. These statistics were first published in the Sydney Gazette on 26 September 1829. (12)

It is not known when the compilation of the six volumes was completed. In October 1828 the Colonial Secretary Alexander McLeay wrote that ‘it is hoped that when the Returns are abstracted, and the names classed alphabetically, the danger of double entries and omisions will be equally obviated’. (13)

Subsequent history
The volumes of the 1828 Census passed into the possession of the Inspector General of Police. In 1901 the Inspector General made a submission to the Chief Secretary that these records should be placed in the care of the Registrar General. The matter was considered by a committee appointed by the Premier and Chief Secretary. This committee consisted of the Principal Under Secretary of the Premier’s Department (Mr R.C. Critchet Walker), the Inspector General of Police (Mr Edmund Fosbery) and the Registrar General (Mr William Gordon Hayes Williams). It recommended that the records of the 1828 Census be placed in the care of the Registrar General to be kept under lock and key, the Registrar General himself retaining the key. (14) The volumes, along with the case which housed them and its key, were transferred as State archives on 25 March 1965. (15)

UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register
The records of the 1828 Census were inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register on 27 February 2019.

Endnotes
1. Census of New South Wales – November 1828, Edited by Malcolm R Sainty & Keith A Johnson. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1980 and subsequently published, with additional information, on CD-ROM 2001 and Revised Edition 2008, Introduction (PDF) ‘Census of New South Wales November 1828, available from Biographical Database of Australia website, https://www.bda-online.org.au/sources/musters-census/ (accessed 22 February 2019), p.13; NRS 905, Main series of letters received [Colonial Secretary], 1828 [4/2007.2].
2. K. A. Johnson, 'Rumsey, Herbert John (1866–1956)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rumsey-herbert-john-8297/text14543, published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 22 February 2019. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, (MUP), 1988.
3. TNA (UK): HO Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania: Records., HO 10/21 to HO 10/27, http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C1905858 (accessed 22 February 2019). The Home Office volumes, while including most of the same details, are not identical to the 1828 Census: Alphabetical registers.
4. Instructions of 1 September 1828 in NRS 906, Special bundles [Colonial Secretary], 1826: Census of 1828 – instructions, circulars, and samples of forms to be used [4/1097].
5. Census of 1828 (9 Geo. IV No.5).
6. Ibid.
7. Instructions of 1 September 1828 and Circular, 18 September 1828 in NRS 906, Special bundles [Colonial Secretary], 1826: Census of 1828 – instructions, circulars, and samples of forms to be used [4/1097].
8. For example see Historical Records of Australia Series I, Vol. I, p.678.
9. Colonial Secretary; NRS 922, Registers of letters received, 1828 [5/2342] Reel 2929, q.v. Nos. 28/8991 and 28/9341.
10. Ibid., q.v. Nos. 29/6673 and 29/8653.
11. Ibid., q.v. Nos. 29/8147; NRS 905, Main series of letters received, 1828 Letter No.29/9898 in [4/2056].
12. Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 26 September 1829, p.1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2193488 (accessed 21 February 2019).
13. NRS 989, Copies of letters to Magistrates, Police etc, 17 October 1828, Out Letter 38/741 [4/3826] pp.493-494, Reel 2807.
14. Archives Authority of New South Wales, Disposal Recommendation (DR631).
15. AO File 65/0120 and Accession Register.

Reference
Census of New South Wales – November 1828, Edited by Malcolm R Sainty & Keith A Johnson. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1980 and subsequently published, with additional information, on CD-ROM 2001 and Revised Edition 2008, Introduction (PDF) ‘Census of New South Wales November 1828', available from Biographical Database of Australia website, https://www.bda-online.org.au/sources/musters-census/ (accessed 22 February 2019).

Created: 1828-11-01 to 1829-12-31

Data time period: 1828-11-01 to 1829-12-31

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