1828 New South Wales Census Householders’ Returns (Australian Copy)

The first census of New South Wales was taken in 1828. Censuses were taken periodically in the colony thereafter. However, few of them still exist. The 1828 census is the only complete Australian census that has survived to present day. The 1828 census was taken in November of that year. Its purpose was to record all inhabitants of the colony, both convict and free. Two Copies of the Census: Two copies of this census were created. One copy remained in New South Wales, the other was sent to the Public Records Office in England. The copy that was sent to England is now available on microfilm from The National Archives (TNA) of the UK. This copy that remained in Australia is available on microfilm from the New South Wales State Archives. These databases contain the Australian copy of the census. This is important to note because there are some slight differences between the two copies. For example, the TNA copy contains some duplicate records and misspellings that appear to be omitted in the Australian version. This suggests that the TNA copy is the ‘original’ and that the Australian copy was created later with errors corrected.