1911
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 the 1911 census took a long time to release with delays increased by World War I. The Australian population was counted as 4,455,005 "exclusive of full-blooded aborigines".
In the census of 1911 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.
Read more about this topic: Census In Australia