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Census

The first population counts in Australia were known as musters and were held in the earliest years of European settlement. They were conducted as a means of controlling the convict population and determining how much food was required for the colony.

In later years, regular official census counts were conducted by the various colonial governments with the first national census being held in April 1911. However, once the statistical information had been extracted, in most cases the personal information was discarded. Because of this, you need to consider using alternative sources such as electoral rolls and directories.

Census history
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has some interesting articles on the history of census taking in Australia.

Listed below is a table showing those musters and censuses containing personal information which are available for New South Wales. Please note that the censuses available on Ancestry can be accessed from the Australian Census Collection link on the home page.

Year/s	Title	Format	Image or transcription	Comments
1800-1802	Musters and lists, New South Wales and Norfolk Island, 1800-1802	Book	Transcription	Includes free settlers, convicts and military
1805-1806	Musters of New South Wales and Norfolk Island, 1805-1806	Book	Transcription	Includes free settlers and convicts
1811	General musters of New South Wales, Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land	Book	Transcription	As above
1814	General muster of New South Wales, 1814	Book	Transcription	Includes references to the majority of people in New South Wales
1822	General muster and land and stock muster of New South Wales, 1822	Book	Transcription	Includes free settlers and convicts
1823-1825	General muster list of New South Wales, 1823, 1824, 1825	Book	Transcription	Includes free settlers and convicts
1828	1828 New South Wales census	Eresource on Ancestry	Images	Aimed to include all inhabitants in NSW, both convicts and free settlers. Gives name, age, free or bond, ship of arrival, year of arrival, sentence, religion, employment, residence and district.
1828	1828 census of New South Wales	CD-ROM	Transcription	As above
1828	1828 census householders' returns	Microfilm	Images	Part of Genealogical Research Kit. Reels 2551-2552 and 2506-2507
1828	Census of New South Wales, November 1828	Book	Transcription	Aimed to include all inhabitants in NSW, both convicts and free settlers. Gives name, age, free or bond, ship of arrival, year of arrival, sentence, religion, employment, residence and district.
1828	Census of New South Wales, November 1828: corriegenda & addenda to the work	Book	Transcription	As above
1837	General return of convicts in New South Wales, 1837	Book	Transcription	Convicts only. Information includes name, age, ship of arrival, where tried, name of master, name of district and remarks.
1841	1841 New South Wales census	Eresource on Ancestry	Images	Includes name of head of household plus the following information about people in the household: number of males and females of each age, number of married and single males and females, civil condition (e.g. arrived free, holding ticket of leave), religion, occupation (broad categories).
1841	1841 census, abstracts of householders returns	Microfilm	Images	As above
1891	1891 New South Wales census	Eresource on Ancestry	Images	Includes name of head of household, locality, number of males and females in household. Number of Chinese and Aborigines also noted.
1901	1901 New South Wales census	Eresource on Ancestry	Images	As above

Page last updated: Tuesday 5 February 2013