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Census in Australia

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A census (from Latin censere , 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given population , usually displayed in the form of statistics. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses ; other common censuses include censuses of agriculture , traditional culture, business, supplies, and traffic censuses. The United Nations (UN) defines the essential features of population and housing censuses as "individual enumeration, universality within a defined territory, simultaneity and defined periodicity", and recommends that population censuses be taken at least every ten years. UN recommendations also cover census topics to be collected, official definitions, classifications, and other useful information to coordinate international practices.

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143-558: The Census in Australia , officially the Census of Population and Housing , is the national census in Australia that occurs every five years. The census collects key demographic, social and economic data from all people in Australia on census night, including overseas visitors and residents of Australian external territories , only excluding foreign diplomats. The census is the largest and most significant statistical event in Australia and

286-660: A base-10 positional system. On May 25, 1577, King Philip II of Spain ordered by royal cédula the preparation of a general description of Spain's holdings in the Indies. Instructions and a questionnaire, issued in 1577 by the Office of the Cronista Mayor, were distributed to local officials in the Viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru to direct the gathering of information. The questionnaire, composed of fifty items,

429-544: A census for tax purposes, which was partially responsible for the development of the Zealot movement and several failed rebellions against Rome ultimately ending in the Jewish Diaspora . The Gospel of Luke makes reference to Quirinius' census in relation to the birth of Jesus ; based on variant readings of this passage, a minority of biblical scholars, including N. T. Wright , speculate that this passage refers to

572-408: A sampling frame such as an address register. Census counts are necessary to adjust samples to be representative of a population by weighting them as is common in opinion polling . Similarly, stratification requires knowledge of the relative sizes of different population strata, which can be derived from census enumerations. In some countries, the census provides the official counts used to apportion

715-412: A sampling frame to count the population. This is the only way to be sure that everyone has been included, as otherwise those not responding would not be followed up on and individuals could be missed. The fundamental premise of a census is that the population is not known, and a new estimate is to be made by the analysis of primary data. The use of a sampling frame is counterintuitive as it suggests that

858-406: A self-governing Crown colony with responsible government . Brisbane was selected as the capital city. On 10 December 1859, a proclamation was read by George Bowen , the first Governor of Queensland , formally establishing Queensland as a separate colony from New South Wales. On 22 May 1860 the first Queensland election was held and Robert Herbert , Bowen's private secretary, was appointed as

1001-480: A "permanent" address, which might be a family home for students or long-term migrants. A precise definition of residence is needed, to decide whether visitors to a country should be included in the population count. This is becoming more important as students travel abroad for education for a period of several years. Other groups causing problems with enumeration are newborn babies, refugees, people away on holiday, people moving home around census day, and people without

1144-592: A census was held simultaneously in each of the colonies. This was part of a census of the British Empire . The questions posed in the colonies were not uniform and Henry Heylyn Hayter , who conducted the Victorian census, found that this caused difficulties in dealing with Australia-wide data. The population of Australia counted in the census was 2,231,531. At the time, the Northern Territory

1287-477: A clan or tribe, or by a juridical person such as a corporation, cooperative, or government agency. The holding's land may consist of one or more parcels, located in one or more separate areas or one or more territorial or administrative divisions, providing the parcels share the same production means, such as labor, farm buildings, machinery or draught animals. Historical censuses used crude enumeration assuming absolute accuracy. Modern approaches take into account

1430-415: A family home during vacations, or children whose parents have separated who effectively have two family homes. Census enumeration has always been based on finding people where they live, as there is no systematic alternative: any list used to find people is likely to be derived from census activities in the first place. Recent UN guidelines provide recommendations on enumerating such complex households. In

1573-510: A fishing analogy can be found in "Trout, Catfish and Roach..." which won an award from the Royal Statistical Society for excellence in official statistics in 2011. Triple system enumeration has been proposed as an improvement as it would allow evaluation of the statistical dependence of pairs of sources. However, as the matching process is the most difficult aspect of census estimation this has never been implemented for

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1716-414: A fixed address. People with second homes, because they are working in another part of the country or have a holiday cottage, are difficult to fix at a particular address; this sometimes causes double counting or houses being mistakenly identified as vacant. Another problem is where people use a different address at different times e.g. students living at their place of education in term time but returning to

1859-597: A force of settlers and native police at Battle Mountain near modern Cloncurry . The subsequent battle of Battle Mountain ended in disaster for the Kalkadoon, who suffered heavy losses. Fighting continued in North Queensland , however, with First Nations raiders attacking sheep and cattle while Native Police mounted heavy retaliatory massacres. Tens of thousands of South Sea Islanders were kidnapped from islands nearby to Australia and sold as slaves to work on

2002-569: A great rush to take up the surrounding land in the Darling Downs , Logan and Brisbane Valley and South Burnett onwards from 1840, in many cases leading to widespread fighting and heavy loss of life. The conflict later spread north to the Wide Bay and Burnett River and Hervey Bay region, and at one stage the settlement of Maryborough was virtually under siege. The largest reasonably well-documented massacres in southeast Queensland were

2145-500: A large city, it might be appropriate to give the average income for black males aged between 50 and 60. However, doing this for a town that only has two black males in this age group would be a breach of privacy because either of those persons, knowing his own income and the reported average, could determine the other man's income. Typically, census data are processed to obscure such individual information. Some agencies do this by intentionally introducing small statistical errors to prevent

2288-576: A letter. Contrary to previous years where censuses were both delivered and retrieved from households by dedicated census employees, in 2016 most of the paperwork relating to the census was delivered from and to the ABS by Australia Post . The 2016 census was met by two controversies. The first was that the retention of names and addresses increased to up to 4 years, from 18 months in the 2006 and 2011 censuses, leading to concerns about privacy and data security. As such, some Australian Senate crossbenchers (from

2431-469: A national enumeration. It would also be difficult to identify three different sources that were sufficiently different to make the triple system effort worthwhile. The DSE approach has another weakness in that it assumes there is no person counted twice (over count). In de facto residence definitions this would not be a problem but in de jure definitions individuals risk being recorded on more than one form leading to double counting. A particular problem here

2574-433: A population and housing census – numbers of people, their distribution, their living conditions and other key data – is critical for development." This is because this type of data is essential for policymakers so that they know where to invest. Many countries have outdated or inaccurate data about their populations and thus have difficulty in addressing the needs of the population. The UNFPA said: "The unique advantage of

2717-595: A population of half a million people. Since then, Queensland has remained a federated state within Australia, and its population has significantly grown. In 1905 women voted in state elections for the first time. The state's first university, the University of Queensland , was established in Brisbane in 1909. In 1911, the first alternative treatments for polio were pioneered in Queensland and remain in use across

2860-478: A process known as blackbirding or press-ganging, and their employment conditions constituted an allegedly exploitative form of indentured labour. Italian immigrants entered the sugar cane industry from the 1890s. During the 1890s, the six Australian colonies, including Queensland, held a series of referendums which culminated in the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901. During this time, Queensland had

3003-593: A provision (section 127), which said: "In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, Aboriginal [persons   ...] shall not be counted." In 1967, a referendum was held which approved two amendments to the Australian constitution relating to Indigenous Australians. The second of the two amendments deleted section 127 from the Constitution. It

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3146-460: A realist approach to measurement, acknowledging that under any definition of residence there is a true value of the population but this can never be measured with complete accuracy. An important aspect of the census process is to evaluate the quality of the data. Many countries use a post-enumeration survey to adjust the raw census counts. This works similarly to capture-recapture estimation for animal populations. Among census experts, this method

3289-497: A review was complete. Leader of the opposition Bill Shorten said that the 2016 census had been the "worst-run ... in the history of Australia". The ABS blamed service provider IBM for the failure in the online census, saying that IBM had advised on the preparedness and resilience to DDoS attacks and had not offered any further protections that could be employed. On 31 August, the Parliament of Australia initiated an inquiry into

3432-704: A separate registration conducted during the reign of Herod the Great , several years before Quirinius' census. The 15-year indiction cycle established by Diocletian in AD   297 was based on quindecennial censuses and formed the basis for dating in late antiquity and under the Byzantine Empire . In the Middle Ages , the Caliphate began conducting regular censuses soon after its formation, beginning with

3575-505: Is based on the geographic area in which a group originated or developed; and the similarity of cultural and ethnic groups in terms of social and cultural characteristics. The classification is specific to Australian needs and was developed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The classification is based on the self-perceived group identification approach, using a self assessed response to a direct question. This approach measures

3718-453: Is called dual system enumeration (DSE). A sample of households is visited by interviewers who record the details of the household as of census day. These data are then matched to census records, and the number of people missed can be estimated by considering the number of people who are included in one count but not the other. This allows adjustments to the count for non-response, varying between different demographic groups. An explanation using

3861-487: Is home to the Torres Strait Islander peoples . Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct from mainland Aboriginal peoples. They have a long history of interaction with both Aboriginal peoples of what is now Australia and the peoples of New Guinea . In February 1606, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon landed near the site of what is now Weipa , on the western shore of Cape York . This

4004-401: Is important in considering individuals who have multiple or temporary addresses. Every person should be identified uniquely as a resident in one place; but the place where they happen to be on Census Day, their de facto residence , may not be the best place to count them. Where an individual uses services may be more useful, and this is at their usual residence. An individual may be recorded at

4147-469: Is interested; researchers in particular have an interest in the role of Census Field Officers (CFO) and their assistants. Data can be represented visually or analysed in complex statistical models, to show the difference between certain areas, or to understand the association between different personal characteristics. Census data offer a unique insight into small areas and small demographic groups which sample data would be unable to capture with precision. In

4290-714: Is named after the counting of the Israelite population according to the house of the Fathers after the exodus from Egypt. A second census was taken while the Israelites were camped in the " plains of Moab ". King David performed a census that produced disastrous results. His son, King Solomon , had all of the foreigners in Israel counted. One of the world's earliest preserved censuses was held in China in AD   2 during

4433-538: Is not known if there are any residents or how many people there are in each household. Depending on the mode of enumeration, a form is sent to the householder, an enumerator calls, or administrative records for the dwelling are accessed. As a preliminary to the dispatch of forms, census workers will check for any address problems on the ground. While it may seem straightforward to use the postal service file for this purpose, this can be out of date and some dwellings may contain several independent households. A particular problem

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4576-614: Is run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Every person must complete the census, although some personal questions are not compulsory. The penalty for failing to complete the census after being directed to by the Australian Statistician is one federal penalty unit , or A$ 220 . The Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975 and Census and Statistics Act 1905 authorise the ABS to collect, store, and share anonymised data. The first Australian census

4719-423: Is still conducted in a similar way to the post-enumeration survey employed in a traditional census. Other countries that have a population register use this as a basis for all the census statistics needed by users. This is most common among Nordic countries but requires many distinct registers to be combined, including population, housing, employment, and education. These registers are then combined and brought up to

4862-415: Is students who often have a term time and family address. Several countries have used a system known as short form/long form. This is a sampling strategy that randomly chooses a proportion of people to send a more detailed questionnaire to (the long form). Everyone receives the short-form questions. This means more data are collected, but without imposing a burden on the whole population. This also reduces

5005-720: Is the second-largest and third-most populous of the Australian states. It is bordered by the Northern Territory , South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south, respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean ; to the state's north is the Torres Strait , separating the Australian mainland from Papua New Guinea , and the Gulf of Carpentaria to

5148-491: Is typically collected about the household structure and the housing. For this reason, international documents refer to censuses of population and housing. Normally the census response is made by a household, indicating details of individuals resident there. An important aspect of census enumerations is determining which individuals can be counted and which cannot be counted. Broadly, three definitions can be used: de facto residence; de jure residence; and permanent residence. This

5291-416: Is what is termed " communal establishments ", a category that includes student residences, religious orders, homes for the elderly, people in prisons, etc. As these are not easily enumerated by a single householder, they are often treated differently and visited by special teams of census workers to ensure they are classified appropriately. Individuals are normally counted within households , and information

5434-582: The 138th meridian east , and to the southwest by northeastern South Australia . The state's southern border with New South Wales is constituted in the east by the watershed from Point Danger to the Dumaresq River , and the Dumaresq, Macintyre and Barwon rivers. The west of the southern border is defined by the 29th parallel south (including some minor historical encroachments ) until it reaches South Australia. Like much of eastern Australia,

5577-625: The Australian frontier wars of the 19th century, colonists killed tens of thousands of Aboriginal people in Queensland while consolidating their control over the territory. On 6 June 1859 (now commemorated as Queensland Day ), Queen Victoria signed the letters patent to establish the colony of Queensland, separating it from New South Wales and thereby establishing Queensland as a self-governing Crown colony with responsible government . A large part of colonial Queensland's economy relied on blackbirded South Sea Islander slavery. Queensland

5720-524: The Brisbane River . He returned in 1824 and established a penal settlement at what is now Redcliffe . The settlement, initially known as Edenglassie , was then transferred to the current location of the Brisbane city centre . Edmund Lockyer discovered outcrops of coal along the banks of the upper Brisbane River in 1825. In 1839 transportation of convicts was ceased, culminating in the closure of

5863-630: The Gayiri Aboriginal people in response. Frontier violence peaked on the northern mining frontier during the 1870s, most notably in Cook district and on the Palmer and Hodgkinson River goldfields, with heavy loss of Aboriginal lives and several well-known massacres. Raids conducted by the Kalkadoon held settlers out of Western Queensland for ten years until September 1884 when they attacked

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6006-610: The Great Dividing Range runs roughly parallel with, and inland from, the coast, and areas west of the range are more arid than the humid coastal regions. The Great Barrier Reef , which is the world's largest coral reef system, runs parallel to the state's Coral Sea coast between the Torres Strait and K'gari (Fraser Island) . Queensland's coastline includes the world's three largest sand islands: K'gari (Fraser Island) , Moreton , and North Stradbroke . The state contains six World Heritage -listed preservation areas:

6149-467: The Greens , Nick Xenophon Team and Jacqui Lambie Network ) said they would not complete those specific sections of the census, despite the fines associated with incorrect completion of the census. The second was that many Australians could not complete the census online on the designated day. While a paper census form was also available on request, for 2016 the ABS was aiming for two-thirds online. However,

6292-553: The Han dynasty , and is still considered by scholars to be quite accurate. The population was registered as having 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households but on this occasion only taxable families had been taken into account, indicating the income and the number of soldiers who could be mobilized. Another census was held in AD   144. The oldest recorded census in India is thought to have occurred around 330   BC during

6435-636: The Kilcoy and Whiteside poisonings, each of which was said to have taken up to 70 Aboriginal lives by use of a gift of flour laced with strychnine . At the Battle of One Tree Hill in September 1843, Multuggerah and his group of warriors ambushed one group of settlers, routing them and subsequently others in the skirmishes which followed, starting in retaliation for the Kilcoy poisoning. Central Queensland

6578-657: The Kingdom of Great Britain on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island , naming eastern Australia, including Queensland, New South Wales . The Aboriginal population declined significantly after a smallpox epidemic during the late 18th century and massacres by the European settlers. In 1823, John Oxley , a British explorer, sailed north from what is now Sydney to scout possible penal colony sites in Gladstone (then Port Curtis ) and Moreton Bay . At Moreton Bay, he found

6721-504: The Northern Territory to 8.9% in Western Australia . The peak lodgement was between 8pm and 9pm on census night, when more than 72,000 online forms were received. The eCensus remained available throughout the entire census period. During the 24-hour period of 8 August (census night), eCensus delivered more than 12.5 million page views and at 8:47 pm, more than 55,000 households were logged on simultaneously. IBM assisted with

6864-553: The Sunshine Coast , Townsville , Cairns , Ipswich , and Toowoomba . 24.2% of the state's population were born overseas . The state has the highest inter-state net migration in Australia. Queensland was first inhabited by Aboriginal Australians , with the Torres Strait Islands inhabited by Torres Strait Islanders . Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon , the first European to land in Australia, explored

7007-601: The Sunshine State for its tropical and sub-tropical climates, Great Barrier Reef , and numerous beaches, tourism is also important to the state's economy. Queensland was one of the largest regions of pre-colonial Aboriginal population in Australia. The Aboriginal occupation of Queensland is thought to predate 50,000 BC, and early migrants are believed to have arrived via boat or land bridge across Torres Strait . Through time, their descendants developed into more than 90 different language and cultural groups. During

7150-414: The Torres Strait to the north, with Boigu Island off the coast of New Guinea representing the northern extreme of its territory. The triangular Cape York Peninsula , which points toward New Guinea, is the northernmost part of the state's mainland. West of the peninsula's tip, northern Queensland is bordered by the Gulf of Carpentaria . To the west, Queensland is bordered by the Northern Territory , at

7293-643: The White Australia policy came into effect, which saw most foreign workers in Australia deported under the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 , which saw the Pacific Islander population of the state decrease rapidly. A public meeting was held in 1851 to consider the proposed separation of Queensland from New South Wales. On 6 June 1859, Queen Victoria signed letters patent to form the separate colony of Queensland as

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7436-482: The White Australia policy in 1973 saw the beginning of a wave of immigration from around the world, and most prominently from Asia, which continues to the present. In 1981 the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland's northeast coast, one of the world's largest coral reef systems, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site . In 2003 Queensland adopted maroon as the state's official colour. The announcement

7579-692: The nomarch , "whence he gained his living". Under the Ptolemies and the Romans several censuses were conducted in Egypt by government officials. There are several accounts of ancient Greek city states carrying out censuses. Censuses are mentioned several times in the Biblical narrative. God commands a per capita tax to be paid with the census for the upkeep of the Tabernacle . The Book of Numbers

7722-437: The population size is already known. However, a census is also used to collect attribute data on the individuals in the nation, not only to assess population size. This process of sampling marks the difference between a historical census, which was a house-to-house process or the product of an imperial decree, and the modern statistical project. The sampling frame used by a census is almost always an address register. Thus, it

7865-534: The semi-arid and desert climatic regions of its interior . Queensland has a population of over 5.5 million, concentrated along the east coast, particularly in South East Queensland . The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane , Australia's third-largest city . Ten of Australia's thirty largest cities are located in Queensland, the largest outside Brisbane being the Gold Coast ,

8008-518: The 1911 census took a long time to be released, with delays increased by World War I . The Australian population was counted in the census as 4,455,005, exclusive of Aboriginal persons of more than 50 percent Aboriginal descent. In the 1911 census, many collectors used horses. A drought in Western Australia meant that some collectors were unable to find feed for their horses. Flooding and bogs stranded some collectors in Queensland. In 1911

8151-412: The 19th and 20th centuries collected paper documents which had to be collated by hand, so the statistical information obtained was quite basic. The government that owned the data could publish statistics on the state of the nation. The results were used to measure changes in the population and apportion representation. Population estimates could be compared to those of other countries. By the beginning of

8294-415: The 2016 census. It released its findings on 24 November: no individual party was found to be responsible but it was shared between the government, IBM, and other sub-contractors. Census The UN 's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in turn, defines the census of agriculture as "a statistical operation for collecting, processing and disseminating data on the structure of agriculture, covering

8437-437: The 20th century, censuses were recording households and some indications of their employment. In some countries, census archives are released for public examination after many decades, allowing genealogists to track the ancestry of interested people. Archives provide a substantial historical record which may challenge established views. Information such as job titles and arrangements for the destitute and sick may also shed light on

8580-545: The ABS from releasing any personally identifiable census data to any government, private or individual entity. In 1979, the Australian Law Reform Commission released Privacy and the Census , a report detailing legislative privacy measures related to the census. One of the key elements under question was the inclusion of names and addresses in census data. It was found that excluding names reduced

8723-434: The ABS has destroyed census forms or other census-related personal information after the census data processing period, roughly 18 months after the census. Following a public consultation process before the 2016 census, it was found that Australians expected the ABS to hold their information for as long as there is a benefit to the community, and should be destroyed as soon as that need no longer exists. Following this process,

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8866-400: The ABS has revised the retention period to four years after census, instead of 18 months. Concurrently, the ABS also improved their anonymisation techniques and limits access to addresses and anonymised names to when only necessary. Since 2001, the ABS and National Archives of Australia have given respondents the option to have their complete census data, including name and address, stored in

9009-653: The Brisbane penal settlement. In 1842 free settlement, which had already commenced, was officially permitted. In 1847, the Port of Maryborough was opened as a wool port. While most early immigrants came from New South Wales, the first free immigrant ship to arrive in Moreton Bay from Europe was the Artemisia , in 1848. Earlier than this immigrant ship was the arrival of the Irish famine orphan girls to Queensland. Devised by

9152-547: The Census Time Capsule. The capsule is stored securely at the National Archives for 99 years after each census and is released publicly at the end of that period. The first capsule opening will be on 7 August 2100. Indigenous Australians in contact with the colonists were enumerated at many of the colonial censuses. When the Federation of Australia occurred in 1901, the new Constitution contained

9295-479: The Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics interpreted section 127 as meaning that they may enumerate Aboriginal persons but that they must be excluded from published tabulations of population. Aboriginal persons living in settled areas were counted to a greater or lesser extent in all censuses before 1967. George Handley Knibbs , the first Commonwealth Statistician , obtained a legal opinion at

9438-403: The Constitution , the "race" question was re-designed for the 1971 census and methods for remote area collection examined to improve identification of Indigenous Australian groups. There were 12,755,638 people counted. The 1976 census was the largest undertaken to date, with 53 questions. Due to budgetary restraints, the ABS was not able to complete normal processing of the data and a 50% sample

9581-604: The Feisty Colleens, never set foot on Sydney soil, and instead sailed up to Brisbane (then Moreton Bay) on 21 October 1848 on board the Ann Mary . This scheme continued until 1852. In 1857, Queensland's first lighthouse was built at Cape Moreton . The frontier wars fought between European settlers and Aboriginal tribes in Queensland were the bloodiest and most brutal in colonial Australia. Many of these conflicts are now seen as acts of genocide. The wars featured

9724-1077: The Great Barrier Reef along the Coral Sea coast, K'gari (Fraser Island) on the Wide Bay–Burnett region's coastline, the wet tropics in Far North Queensland including the Daintree Rainforest , Lamington National Park in South East Queensland , the Riversleigh fossil sites in North West Queensland , and the Gondwana Rainforests in South East Queensland. The state is divided into several unofficial regions which are commonly used to refer to large areas of

9867-468: The Native Police between 1859 and 1897. The military force of the Queensland Government in this war was the Native Police , who operated from 1849 to the 1920s. The Native Police was a body of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander troopers that operated under the command of white officers. The Native Police were often recruited forcefully from far-away communities. Conflict spread quickly with free settlement in 1838, with settlement rapidly expanding in

10010-415: The UK, all census formats are scanned and stored electronically before being destroyed, replacing the need for physical archives. The record linking to perform an administrative census would not be possible without large databases being stored on computer systems. There are sometimes problems in introducing new technology. The US census had been intended to use handheld computers, but cost escalated, and this

10153-464: The accuracy of the data; individuals were more likely to leave questions blank. Not collecting this data would also impair the ability of the ABS to ensure that all participants have responded. The ABS protects personal information primarily through anonymisation of data. Personal information is stored separately from other census data, and separately from each other. Names are mutated into anonymised codes, which are then used to link data. Historically,

10296-408: The age of sixteen. In total, approximately 15,000 South Sea Islander slaves died while working in Queensland, a figure which does not include those who died in transit or who were killed in the recruitment process. This represents a mortality rate of at least 30%, which is high considering most were only on three year contracts. It is also similar to the estimated 33% death rate of enslaved Africans in

10439-500: The ancestries most closely identified with and to consider ancestry back as far as three generations. Respondents had the option of reporting more than one ancestry but only the first two ancestries they reported were coded for the census. The results for 2001 were coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups (ASCCEG). This classification of cultural and ethnic groups

10582-465: The burden on the statistical office. Indeed, in the UK until 2001 all residents were required to fill in the whole form but only a 10% sample was coded and analysed in detail. New technology means that all data are now scanned and processed. During the 2011 Canadian census there was controversy about the cessation of the mandatory long-form census; the head of Statistics Canada , Munir Sheikh , resigned upon

10725-411: The census asked about deaf-mutism . This question was also asked in the next two censuses of 1921 and 1933. Deaf-mutism was found to be very high among 10- to 14-year-olds, with the same pattern existing in the 1921 census among 20- to 24-year-olds. The statisticians report on the 1921 census noted that it was "a reasonable assumption therefore that the abnormal number of deaf-mutes . . . was the result of

10868-566: The census figures of 1911, 1921 and 1933. He found a peak in the level of deaf-mutism in the age cohort born in 1898 and 1899 and that this matched with a known outbreak of rubella in those years. "This was the first time in the world that the link between rubella and congenital problems with unborn children was firmly established." Australia's population counted in April 1921 was 5,435,700, exclusive of Aboriginal persons of more than 50 percent Aboriginal descent. The Statistician independently estimated

11011-438: The census is also an important tool for identifying forms of social, demographic or economic exclusions, such as inequalities relating to race, ethics, and religion as well as disadvantaged groups such as those with disabilities and the poor. An accurate census can empower local communities by providing them with the necessary information to participate in local decision-making and ensuring they are represented. The importance of

11154-536: The census is that it represents the entire statistical universe, down to the smallest geographical units, of a country or region. Planners need this information for all kinds of development work, including: assessing demographic trends; analysing socio-economic conditions; designing evidence-based poverty-reduction strategies; monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of policies; and tracking progress toward national and internationally agreed development goals." In addition to making policymakers aware of population issues,

11297-443: The census of agriculture , data is collected at the agricultural holding unit. An agricultural holding is an economic unit of agricultural production under single management comprising all livestock kept and all land used wholly or partly for agricultural production purposes, without regard to title, legal form, or size. Single management may be exercised by an individual or household, jointly by two or more individuals or households, by

11440-474: The census of agriculture for development is that it gives a snapshot of the structure of the agricultural sector in a country and, when compared with previous censuses, provides an opportunity to identify trends and structural transformations of the sector, and points towards areas for policy intervention. Census data are used as a benchmark for current statistics and their value is increased when they are employed together with other data sources. Early censuses in

11583-563: The census of agriculture, users need census data to: Although the census provides useful statistical information about a population, the availability of this information could sometimes lead to abuses, political or otherwise, by the linking of individuals' identities to anonymous census data. This is particularly important when individuals' census responses are made available in microdata form, but even aggregate-level data can result in privacy breaches when dealing with small areas and/or rare subpopulations. For instance, when reporting data from

11726-465: The census was the rhyming slogan "Get online on August 9". Across many regions, paper forms were no longer delivered by default to homes, and households that wished to complete a paper census had to order such forms via an automated hotline. Letters were sent to each dwelling with unique code numbers that people would need to either login to the census website or order a paper form if they preferred. By census night, many households had still not received such

11869-456: The census were released in June 2012 on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website. The cost of the 2011 census was A$ 440 million. The census occurred on 9 August 2016. For the first time, the ABS the census was by default filled out online, claiming it expected more than 65% of Australians would be completing the census online. Reflecting this new preference, the tagline of the ad campaign for

12012-409: The census. Three punched cards were used to store individual, dwelling, and family information. The cards were processed using an electric sorting machine prior to final totalling with an electric tabulator machine, devised by Herman Hollerith . The census was subsequently conducted in 1933, 1947, 1954, and every five years from 1961 onwards. Following the 1967 referendum removing section 127 from

12155-575: The central government. Differing release strategies of governments have led to an international project ( IPUMS ) to co-ordinate access to microdata and corresponding metadata. Such projects such as SDMX also promote standardising metadata, so that best use can be made of the minimal data available. Censuses in Egypt first appeared in the late Middle Kingdom and developed in the New Kingdom Pharaoh Amasis , according to Herodotus , required every Egyptian to declare annually to

12298-463: The closure of the state borders. With a total area of 1,729,742 square kilometres (715,309 square miles), Queensland is an expansive state with a highly diverse range of climates and geographical features. If Queensland were an independent nation, it would be the world's 16th largest. Queensland's eastern coastline borders the Coral Sea , an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The state is bordered by

12441-660: The colony's agricultural plantations through a process known as blackbirding . This trade in what were then known as Kanakas was in operation from 1863 to 1908, a period of 45 years. Some 55,000 to 62,500 were brought to Australia, most being recruited or blackbirded from islands in Melanesia , such as the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu ), the Solomon Islands and the islands around New Guinea . The majority of those taken were male and around one quarter were under

12584-520: The combination of data from registers, surveys and other sources. Censuses have evolved in their use of technology: censuses in 2010 used many new types of computing. In Brazil, handheld devices were used by enumerators to locate residences on the ground. In many countries, census returns could be made via the Internet as well as in paper form. DSE is facilitated by computer matching techniques that can be automated, such as propensity score matching . In

12727-639: The development of the eCensus, having provided similar infrastructure and technology for the Canadian census earlier that year. The 2011 census was held on the night of 9 August, using both paper and electronic "eCensus" forms. Minimal changes were made from the 2006 census due to financial constraints on the ABS during development. The 2011 census was the largest logistical peacetime operation ever undertaken in Australia, employing over 43,000 field staff to ensure approximately 14.2 million forms were delivered to 9.8 million households. The first results of

12870-430: The extensive epidemic of infectious diseases which occurred soon after many in those age groups were born". Rubella was not known to be a possible contributor. During World War II , the ophthalmologist Norman McAllister Gregg began to investigate the connection between birth defects and the infection of mothers early in their pregnancy. In 1951, prompted by Gregg's work, Australian statistician Oliver Lancaster examined

13013-526: The extent to which individuals associate with particular cultural or ethnic groups. Australia's first census was held in November 1828 in New South Wales , a British colony at the time. Previous government statistical reports had been taken from "musters" where white immigrants were brought together for counting. In 1828, the white population was 36,598: 20,870 settlers and 15,728 convicts. 23.8% of

13156-548: The federal government's decision to do so. The use of alternative enumeration strategies is increasing but these are not as simple as many people assume and are only used in developed countries. The Netherlands has been most advanced in adopting a census using administrative data . This allows a simulated census to be conducted by linking several different administrative databases at an agreed time. Data can be matched, and an overall enumeration established allowing for discrepancies between different data sources. A validation survey

13299-517: The first Premier of Queensland . In 1865, the first rail line in the state opened between Ipswich and Grandchester . Queensland's economy expanded rapidly in 1867 after James Nash discovered gold on the Mary River near the town of Gympie , sparking a gold rush and saving the State of Freddy-Mercury-land from near economic collapse. While still significant, they were on a much smaller scale than

13442-712: The first commercial production of oil in Queensland and Australia began at Moonie . During World War II Brisbane became central to the Allied campaign when the AMP Building (now called MacArthur Central ) was used as the South West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur , chief of the Allied Pacific forces, until his headquarters were moved to Hollandia in August 1944. In 1942, during

13585-458: The first three years of being taken to America. The trade was legally sanctioned and regulated under Queensland law, and prominent men such as Robert Towns made massive fortunes off of exploitation of slave labour, helping to establish some of the major cities in Queensland today. Towns' agent claimed that blackbirded labourers were "savages who did not know the use of money" and therefore did not deserve cash wages. Following Federation in 1901,

13728-508: The first year of Federation, 1901, was again collected by each state separately. When planning for the 1901 census it was clear that federation was soon to occur, and a uniform census schedule was adopted. The first national census was developed by the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics. The census occurred at midnight between 2 and 3 April 1911. Tabulation was carried out almost entirely by hand; over 4 million cards were sorted and physically counted for each tabulation. Results from

13871-423: The form of conditional distributions ( histograms ) can be derived interactively from the estimated mixture model without any further access to the original database. As the final product does not contain any protected microdata, the model-based interactive software can be distributed without any confidentiality concerns. Another method is simply to release no data at all, except very large scale data directly to

14014-422: The gold rushes of Victoria and New South Wales. Immigration to Australia and Queensland, in particular, began in the 1850s to support the state economy. During the period from the 1860s until the early 20th century, many labourers, known at the time as Kanakas , were brought to Queensland from neighbouring Pacific Island nations to work in the state's sugar cane fields. Some of these people had been kidnapped under

14157-792: The historical structure of society. Political considerations influence the census in many countries. In Canada in 2010 for example, the government under the leadership of Stephen Harper abolished the mandatory long-form census. This abolition was a response to protests from some Canadians who resented the personal questions. The long-form census was reinstated by the Justin Trudeau government in 2016. As governments assumed responsibility for schooling and welfare, large government research departments made extensive use of census data. Population projections could be made, to help plan for provision in local government and regions. Central government could also use census data to allocate funding. Even in

14300-466: The identification of individuals in marginal populations; others swap variables for similar respondents. Whatever is done to reduce the privacy risk, new improved electronic analysis of data can threaten to reveal sensitive individual information. This is known as statistical disclosure control . Another possibility is to present survey results by means of statistical models in the form of a multivariate distribution mixture. The statistical information in

14443-511: The internet. It is also possible that the hidden nature of an administrative census means that users are not engaged with the importance of contributing their data to official statistics. Alternatively, population estimations may be carried out remotely with geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing technologies. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), "The information generated by

14586-424: The last ice age , Queensland's landscape became more arid and largely desolate, making food and other supplies scarce. The people developed the world's first seed-grinding technology. The end of the glacial period brought about a warming climate, making the land more hospitable. It brought high rainfall along the eastern coast, stimulating the growth of the state's tropical rainforests. The Torres Strait Islands

14729-490: The later decades of the 20th century, the humid subtropical climate —regulated by the availability of air conditioning—saw Queensland become a popular destination for migrants from interstate. Since that time, Queensland has continuously seen high levels of migration from the other states and territories of Australia. In 1966, Lyndon B. Johnson became the first U.S. president to visit Queensland. During his visit, he met with Australia prime minister Harold Holt . The end of

14872-524: The mid 20th century, census data was only directly accessible to large government departments. However, computers meant that tabulations could be used directly by university researchers, large businesses and local government offices. They could use the detail of the data to answer new questions and add to local and specialist knowledge. Nowadays, census data are published in a wide variety of formats to be accessible to business, all levels of government, media, students and teachers, charities, and any citizen who

15015-452: The most frequent massacres of First Nations people, the three deadliest massacres on white settlers, the most disreputable frontier police force, and the highest number of white victims to frontier violence on record in any Australian colony. Across at least 644 collisions at least 66,680 were killed — with Aboriginal fatalities alone comprising no less than 65,180. Of these deaths, around 24,000 Aboriginal men, women and children were killed by

15158-463: The north-west. With an area of 1,723,030 square kilometres (665,270 sq mi), Queensland is the world's sixth-largest subnational entity ; it is larger than all but 16 countries . Due to its size, Queensland's geographical features and climates are diverse, and include tropical rainforests , rivers , coral reefs , mountain ranges and white sandy beaches in its tropical and sub-tropical coastal regions, as well as deserts and savanna in

15301-496: The number of Aboriginal persons, both those of more than 50 percent Aboriginal descent and those of 50 percent or more non-Aboriginal descent, by obtaining figures from police and protectors of Aboriginal persons throughout the country. One of the significant findings of the 1921 census was the low rate of males to females in the 20–30 age group, showing the impact of World War I on the population. The 1921 census introduced automatic machine tabulation equipment, hired from England for

15444-403: The number of elected representatives to regions (sometimes controversially – e.g., Utah v. Evans ). In many cases, a carefully chosen random sample can provide more accurate information than attempts to get a population census. A census is often construed as the opposite of a sample as it intends to count everyone in a population, rather than a fraction. However, population censuses do rely on

15587-537: The number of individuals. Censuses typically began as the only method of collecting national demographic data and are now part of a larger system of different surveys. Although population estimates remain an important function of a census, including exactly the geographic distribution of the population or the agricultural population, statistics can be produced about combinations of attributes, e.g., education by age and sex in different regions. Current administrative data systems allow for other approaches to enumeration with

15730-497: The one ordered by the second Rashidun caliph , Umar . The Domesday Book was undertaken in AD   1086 by William I of England so that he could properly tax the land he had recently conquered. In 1183, a census was taken of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem , to ascertain the number of men and amount of money that could possibly be raised against an invasion by Saladin , sultan of Egypt and Syria . The first national census of France ( L'État des paroisses et des feux )

15873-426: The online census website shut down at about 7:30 pm AEST on the night it was to be completed. According to the ABS, throughout 9 August the census website received four denial-of-service attacks . At 7:30 pm, when the site was being heavily used, a software failure meant that the ABS was unable to keep blocking the denial-of-service attacks, leading to the failure of a router. As a result, the ABS decided to close down

16016-399: The only Australian state with a unicameral parliament . In 1935 cane toads were deliberately introduced to Queensland from Hawaii in an unsuccessful attempt to reduce the number of French's cane and greyback cane beetles that were destroying the roots of sugar cane plants, which are integral to Queensland's economy. The toads have remained an environmental pest since that time. In 1962,

16159-465: The population were born in the colony and 24.5% were women. There were 25,248 Protestants and 11,236 Catholics. Indigenous Australians were not counted. Of the 36,598 people, 638 were living in what is now Queensland . There were also 18,128 people in Tasmania . In the mid-19th century the colonial statisticians encouraged compatibility between the colonies in their respective censuses, and in 1881

16302-554: The problems of overcount and undercount and the coherence of census enumerations with other official sources of data. For instance, during the 2020 U.S. Census, the Census Bureau counted people primarily by collecting answers sent by mail, on the internet, over the phone, or using shared information through proxies. These methods accounted for 95.5 percent of all occupied housing units in the United States. This reflects

16445-506: The reign of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya under the leadership of Chanakya and Ashoka . The English term is taken directly from the Latin census , from censere ("to estimate"). The census played a crucial role in the administration of the Roman government, as it was used to determine the class a citizen belonged to for both military and tax purposes. Beginning in the middle republic, it

16588-443: The same level of detail but raise concerns about privacy and the possibility of biasing estimates. A census can be contrasted with sampling in which information is obtained only from a subset of a population; typically, main population estimates are updated by such intercensal estimates . Modern census data are commonly used for research, business marketing , and planning, and as a baseline for designing sample surveys by providing

16731-534: The standard of a statistical register by comparing the data from different sources and ensuring the quality is sufficient for official statistics to be produced. A recent innovation is the French instigation of a rolling census program with different regions enumerated each year so that the whole country is completely enumerated every 5 to 10 years. In Europe, in connection with the 2010 census round, many countries adopted alternative census methodologies, often based on

16874-456: The system as a precaution. The ABS reported that no census data were compromised. The Australian Signals Directorate was assisting the ABS to bring the infrastructure back online more than 24 hours after the closure. The census website was restored at 2:30 pm on 11 August. On the same day, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stated his displeasure over the event, which had "been a failure of the ABS", with his expectation that "heads will roll" once

17017-523: The territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands were included in the 2006 census, following the enactment of the Territories Law Reform Act 1992 . The 2006 census contained 60 questions, all of which were compulsory except those relating to religion and household census data retention. The census cost around A$ 300 million to conduct. For the first time, respondents were given the option of completing an online "eCensus" as opposed to

17160-556: The then British Secretary of State for the Colonies, The Earl Grey Scheme established a special emigration scheme which was designed to resettle destitute girls from the workhouses of Ireland during the Great Famine. The first ship, the "Earl Grey", departed Ireland for a 124-day sail to Sydney. After controversy developed upon their arrival in Australia, a small group of 37 young orphans, sometimes referred to as The Belfast Girls or

17303-424: The third by Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Dieterici in 1859. In 1931, Walter Willcox published a table in his book, International Migrations: Volume II Interpretations , that estimated the 1929 world population to be roughly 1.8 billion. Queensland Queensland ( locally / ˈ k w iː n z l æ n d / KWEENZ -land , commonly abbreviated as Qld ) is a state in northeastern Australia , and

17446-533: The time that persons of 50 percent or more non-Aboriginal descent were not Aboriginal persons for the purposes of the Constitution. At the first Australian census in 1911 only those Aboriginal persons living near white settlements were enumerated, and the main population tables included only those of 50 percent or more non-Aboriginal descent. Details of Aboriginal persons of 50 percent or more non-Aboriginal descent were included in separate tables to Aboriginal persons of more than 50 percent Aboriginal descent. This practice

17589-526: The traditional paper-based version. By 17 August, more than 720,000 households had completed the census online. Across Australia, 8.4% of estimated dwellings lodged online. The highest percentage of internet lodgements was in the Australian Capital Territory with 14.8% of households using eCensus. This was a markedly different proportion of households than elsewhere in Australia, with the other states and territory ranging from 5.9% in

17732-428: The war, Brisbane was the site of a violent clash between visiting US military personnel and Australian servicemen and civilians, which resulted in one death and hundreds of injuries. This incident became known colloquially as the Battle of Brisbane . The end of World War II saw a wave of immigration from across Europe, with many more immigrants coming from southern and eastern Europe than in previous decades. In

17875-555: The west coast of the Cape York Peninsula in 1606. In 1770, James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain . In 1788, Arthur Phillip founded the colony of New South Wales, which included all of what is now Queensland. Queensland was explored in subsequent decades, and the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement was established at Brisbane in 1824 by John Oxley . During

18018-470: The whole or a significant part of a country." "In a census of agriculture, data are collected at the holding level." The word is of Latin origin: during the Roman Republic , the census was a list of all adult males fit for military service. The modern census is essential to international comparisons of any type of statistics, and censuses collect data on many attributes of a population, not just

18161-603: The world today. World War I had a major impact on Queensland . Over 58,000 Queenslanders fought in World War I and over 10,000 of them died. Australia's first major airline, Qantas (originally standing for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services"), was founded in Winton in 1920 to serve outback Queensland. In 1922 Queensland abolished the Queensland Legislative Council , becoming

18304-443: Was abandoned, with the contract being sold to Brazil. The online response has some advantages, but one of the functions of the census is to make sure everyone is counted accurately. A system that allowed people to enter their address without verification would be open to abuse. Therefore, households have to be verified on the ground, typically by an enumerator visit or post out . Paper forms are still necessary for those without access to

18447-587: Was among the six colonies which became the founding states of Australia with Federation on 1 January 1901. Since the Bjelke-Petersen era of the late 20th century, Queensland has received a high level of internal migration from the other states and territories of Australia and remains a popular destination for interstate migration. Queensland has the third-largest economy among Australian states, with strengths in mining, agriculture, transportation, international education , insurance, and banking. Nicknamed

18590-533: Was designed to elicit basic information about the nature of the land and the life of its peoples. The replies, known as " relaciones geográficas ", were written between 1579 and 1585 and were returned to the Cronista Mayor in Spain by the Council of the Indies. The earliest estimate of the world population was made by Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1661; the next by Johann Peter Süssmilch in 1741, revised in 1762;

18733-562: Was followed in all subsequent censuses up to 1966. Since 1967, the ABS has considered Torres Strait Islanders a separate Indigenous people. Prior to 1947, Torres Strait Islanders were regarded as Aboriginal and excluded when not of 50 percent or more non-Aboriginal descent. In 1947, Torres Strait Islanders were considered to be Polynesian and in 1954 and 1961 were considered to be Pacific Islanders . In 1966, Torres Strait Islanders were again regarded as Aboriginal and excluded when not of 50 percent or more non-Aboriginal descent. Ancestry data

18876-526: Was held on 2 April 1911, but census data had been previously collected by individual states. The most recent census was held on 10 August 2021, with the data planned to be released starting from mid-2022. The next census will be held in early August 2026. The census, like all ABS data, is collected and published in geographical divisions as defined by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard ( ASGS ). The ASGS

19019-403: Was held on 7 August. There were 18,769,420 people counted in Australia. Of these, 410,003 people identified as Indigenous Australians. There were 203,101 overseas visitors. The 2006 census was conducted on the night of 8 August. There were 19,855,288 people counted in Australia. Of those, 455,031 people identified as Indigenous Australians. There were 206,358 overseas visitors. For the first time,

19162-533: Was included in the 1986 census. It was found when the data was evaluated that people who filled in the census were not sure what the question meant and there were inconsistent results, particularly for those people whose families had been in Australia for many generations. There were no ancestry related questions in 1991 or 1996 . For 2001 it was decided that development of Government policies did need information about people who were either born overseas, or whose parents were born overseas. The questions were to mark

19305-575: Was made as a result of an informal tradition to use maroon to represent the state in association with sporting events. After three decades of record population growth, Queensland was impacted by major floods between late 2010 and early 2011 , causing extensive damage and disruption across the state. In 2020 Queensland was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic . Despite a low number and abrupt decline in cases from April 2020 onward, social distancing requirements were implemented from March 2020 including

19448-613: Was part of South Australia and had 3,451 white people plus 6,346 Aboriginals in settled districts. Including the Northern Territory, South Australia had a total counted population of 286,211 people. The reported population of Western Australia did not include Aboriginal persons of more than 50 percent Aboriginal descent. The population of greater Melbourne was 282,947 and of Sydney was 224,939. In 1901, there were 3,773,801 people (1,977,928 males and 1,795,873 females) counted in Australia. Prior to federation , each colony had been responsible for its own census collection. The census held during

19591-565: Was particularly hard hit during the 1860s and 1870s, several contemporary writers mention the Skull Hole, Bladensburg, or Mistake Creek massacre on Bladensburg Station near Winton , which in 1901 was said to have taken up to 200 Aboriginal lives. First Nations warriors killed 19 settlers during the Cullin-La-Ringo massacre on 17 October 1861. In the weeks afterwards, police, native police and civilians killed up to 370 members of

19734-494: Was processed. There were 13,548,450 people counted. Scanned data of the 1981 Census is available on the ABS website. The 1986 Census was held on 30 June 1986. Scanned data of the 1986 Census is available on the ABS website. The 1991 census was held on 6 August 1991. The 1996 census was held on 6 August. There were 16,892,423 people counted in Australia. Of these, 342,864 people identified themselves as Indigenous Australians. There were 139,594 overseas visitors. The 2001 census

19877-497: Was released in 2011, replacing the former Australian Standard Geographical Classification . The Standard is reviewed and updated every five years to align with the census. The ABS also releases data divided into areas not managed by the Bureau, such as postcodes (managed by Australia Post ) and Local Government Areas (managed by state and territory governments). The Census and Statistics Act 1905 and Privacy Act 1988 prohibit

20020-556: Was the first recorded landing of a European in Australia , and it also marked the first reported contact between Europeans and the Aboriginal people of Australia . The region was also explored by French and Spanish explorers (commanded by Louis Antoine de Bougainville and Luís Vaez de Torres , respectively) before the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in 1770. Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of

20163-524: Was undertaken in 1328, mostly for fiscal purposes. It estimated the French population at 16 to 17 million. In the 15th century, the Inca Empire had a unique way to record census information. The Incas did not have any written language but recorded information collected during censuses and other numeric information as well as non-numeric data on quipus , strings from llama or alpaca hair or cotton cords with numeric and other values encoded by knots in

20306-493: Was usually carried out every five years. It provided a register of citizens and their property from which their duties and privileges could be listed. It is said to have been instituted by the Roman king Servius Tullius in the 6th century BC, at which time the number of arms-bearing citizens was supposedly counted at around 80,000. When the Romans conquered Judea in AD   6, the legate Publius Sulpicius Quirinius organized

20449-558: Was widely believed at the time of the referendum, and is still often said, that section 127 meant that Aboriginal persons were not counted in Commonwealth censuses before 1967. In fact section 127 related to calculating the population of the states and territories for the purpose of allocating seats in Parliament and per capita Commonwealth grants. Its purpose was to prevent Queensland and Western Australia using their large Aboriginal populations to gain extra seats or extra funds. Thus

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