NRS-1274 | 1828 Census: District abstracts

Full description

Background
The clerks in the Colonial Secretary’s Office compiled a district abstract for each district which was folded around the householders’ returns (NRS 1273) for that district. Where these were voluminous there may be several bundles for a district. Within each district’s bundle the forms are roughly arranged by a running number though it appears the smaller-sized returns have been placed together with the larger returns placed at the end of the district bundle, usually followed by the land and stock return statistics. The clerks also allocated a number to each district which may be noted on the outside of the bundle (such as ‘N2’ for Kissing Point or ‘N37’ for Bathurst), though the district number is not included on each householder’s return.

District abstracts
There are two forms of district abstract for the 1828 Census – one for population and one for land and stock. They are filed with the householders’ returns for their respective districts (in [4/1238.2-1241]).

The population abstract records number of return, name of householder, and then for males, and for females separately, the following information – came free (over 12 years, under 12), born in the colony (over 12 years, under 12), freed by servitude, pardoned, bond, total for each sex, grand total. There is division into number of Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Pagans. The columns are totalled at the bottom of the page.

The land and stock abstracts record number of bundle of returns (where there is more than one), name of tenant or proprietor, total number of acres, acres cleared, acres cultivated, livestock – horses, horned cattle, sheep. There are totals at the end for each column.

A numbered list for districts 34 to 52 is given on the draft General Abstract for the Colony in [4/1238.2] (filed after Castle Hill) but there is no complete contemporary list of district numbers. The General Abstract for the Colony of New South Wales often combined two or more districts. The district number appears to have been applied by the clerks to faciliate the compilation of the statistics for the General Abstract.

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.