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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.

Unfortunately, there are no known surviving census records for Queensland. The only exception to this is the 1828 New South Wales census which includes Moreton Bay. This census is available in a variety of different formats as shown in the table below. Please note that you can access the 1828 census on Ancestry from the Australian Census Collection link on their home page.

Year/s	Title	Format	Image or transcription	Comments
1828	1828 New South Wales census	Eresource on Ancestry	Images	Aimed to include all inhabitants in NSW including Moreton Bay. 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 including Moreton Bay. 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