INF RMING A NATION THE EVOLUTION 1905–2005OF THE AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS INFORMING A NATION THE EVOLUTION OF1905–2005 THE AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS 1905–2005 Australian Bureau of Statistics Catalogue No. 1382.0 © Commonwealth of Australia 2005 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights in this publication should be addressed to The Manager, Intermediary Management, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Locked Bag 10, Belconnen ACT, 2616, by telephone (02) 6252 6998, fax (02) 6252 7102, or email [email protected]. In all cases the ABS must be acknowledged as the source when reproducing or quoting any part of an ABS publication or other product. ISBN 0642479852 Catalogue Number: 1382.0 Graphic Design: Petrina Carden (ABS Design Studio) Cover images: 1 Handwritten prices index from the 1920s 5 Detail of a Mullen burst tester Image by seventyeight.com.au Image by seventyeight.com.au 2 Sir George Handley Knibbs, first 6 Census Proclamation, 1911 Commonwealth Statistician 7 Commonwealth Bureau of Census 3 Detail of a cylindrical slide rule and Statistics tennis team, 1936 Image by seventyeight.com.au 8 Staff of the Commonwealth Bureau 4 Sir George Knibbs’ signature of Census and Statistics in West Block, 1936 II Message to past and present staff Researching and writing the history So this publication of ABS of any organisation is a bit like history is not an end to the history being asked to produce a picture collection but a beginning. If you from a jigsaw puzzle. We started find something in the publication with a few pieces of the puzzle which you believe is wrong or and some clues to where we might incomplete, please let us know find others. This gave us enough and your information will be added information to make out the basic to the ABS History Database. design of the picture, but many As events unfold affecting the pieces are still missing. This organisation, we will continue publication is merely the closest to capture them. In this way we can come to a history with we can add to the permanent the information and resources knowledge of the Bureau about we have now. itself, and future generations of ABS staff will be able to gain an understanding of what we and our predecessors did and why. The Jolimont Building as seen through the arches of the Melbourne Building in Canberra’s Civic Centre, in 1929. It was known as the Census office for more than 30 years. The first bureau staff to work there were those developing the 1933 Census. III An 80 column hand punch machine used in the machines were used from the late 1930s. Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics. Their use continued well into the computer era Punch machines were used in the Bureau from (although by then the cards were not usually the time of introduction of mechanical manually punched). Punch cards were used tabulation for the 1921 census and 80 column to store, sort and collate data records. IV Preface vii Contents Chapter 1 More than just numbers: an introduction 1 Chapter 2 Building a national statistical agency: from the CBCS to the ABS 11 Chapter 3 From pounds to dollars: economic statistics 31 Chapter 4 Measuring your money's worth: from the retail price index to the CPI 57 Chapter 5 The big count: Australia’s Census of Population and Housing 73 Chapter 6 Our people, our wellbeing: social statistics 111 Chapter 7 Working smarter: methodology 139 Chapter 8 Integral to the business: the use of technology in the Bureau 163 Chapter 9 Helping Australians decide: ABS clients and dissemination 193 Chapter 10 A good international citizen: international relationships 219 Chapter 11 Life at work: the culture of the Bureau 243 Chapter 12 A vision for the future: conclusion 277 Appendix A Commonwealth and Australian Statisticians 285 Appendix B Buildings of the Bureau 299 Selected bibliography 309 Acknowledgements 311 Image acknowledgements 312 Index 316 V On 8 December 2005 the Australian Bureau of Statistics celebrates Preface 100 years of service to the people of Australia. On that date 100 years ago Parliament gave its assent to the Census and Statistics Act 1905. In the following year George Handley Knibbs was appointed Commonwealth Statistician and the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics was established. This publication charts the progress of the organisation throughout the century. In this centenary year it is appropriate to look to the past to give context to the present and as a guide for the future. Only when we know where we have come from can we fully comprehend where we are today. And only by understanding the past can we be reasonably confident that the path we choose to the future is the right one. The Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics was established as one of the pillars of democracy. Today the Australian Bureau of Statistics continues that role and so much more. The Bureau has retained the core values of those early years: relevance, integrity, professionalism, confidentiality and access for all. While many people involved in the development of this history are listed in the acknowledgements section of this publication, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank them all for their efforts. Their contributions are gratefully appreciated. I would especially like to acknowledge the contribution of Beth Wright, Joanne Caddy and Dale Chatwin who are primarily responsible for the content of this publication. I would also like to thank Bill McLennan who reviewed several chapters of the publication. As much as this publication is about the history of the Australian Bureau of Statistics as an organisation, it is also a history of the people who have contributed to the Bureau, people who were professional and dedicated In 1959 the Bureau began a statistics cadet in their efforts to serve the governments and all other Australian users scheme which selected young people to train of statistics over the decades. The professional reputation of the Australian in the specific statistical skills required by the Bureau. This photograph shows the Bureau of Statistics today is the result of the commitment of staff, past and 1960 cadets. Pictured are (centre, seated) present, to our core values. This publication is dedicated to the past and Bill McLennan who was to become the present staff of the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Thank you. Australian Statistician 1995 – 2000 with: (Seated L to R): Chris Higgins (later Secretary to Treasury), Chirapun Bhanich-Supapol (a Colombo Plan student from Thailand), Elizabeth Reid, Keith Blackburn; and (Standing L to R): Michael Singleton, Dennis Trewin David Leaver, Jack Maurer, Alan Brooks, Australian Statistician Jim Barratt, Reg Gilbert, and Arch Crittenden. October 2005 VII Above: Staff of the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics who worked in Third row (L to R): Eileen Lynch, Marge Curtis, Jean McLean, Stephanie Pritzler, West Block in 1936. The photograph excludes staff who worked at the Census Office. Wilma Chapman, Bessie Wylie, Molly Bates, Winifred Young. Front row (L to R): Dan Moore, Nancy Forbes, Stan Moss, John Stephen, Fourth row (L to R): Jack Dando, Bill Tickner, Eric Peterson, Ted Hicks, Sid Bone, Harold Green, Roland Wilson (Commonwealth Statistician), Dr. Arthur Smithies, George Cordy, Dick Heyward, Herbert Loftus, Jim Murray, Keith Janson, Frank Sayer, John Barry, Herbert Ransom, Joan Darcy, Jos Jones. Ray Gilligan, Noel Dunstan, Joe Elliot, Jim Anderson, Joe Laity. Second row (L to R): Rita McGinness, Maureen Carroll, Jean Crawley, Joan Barnes, Back row (L to R): Fred Hill, Sid Bayer, Jordan Starkey, Bill McCue, Keith Andrews. Ivy Dunstan, Dora Whitelaw, Mavis Anderson, Jess O'Shea, Joyce Sheehan, [possibly Opposite: Detail of a Fuller's cylindrical slide rule calculator in common use in Edna Baker?], Gladys Joyce. the Bureau prior to the introduction of electronic calculators. More than just numbers AN INTRODUCTIONchapter one CHAPTER ONE The role of the ABS A national statistical service is an essential element of any democracy. It must provide the population counts which are needed to establish and maintain a fair electoral system. But it should do more than this. A national statistical service should reflect back to a society a comprehensive, balanced and accurate picture of itself. This gives a society and its governments their best chance of understanding where a country has come from and of charting where it wishes to go. ‘Official statistics are collected by governments to inform debate, decision making and research both within government and by the wider community. They provide an objective perspective of the changes taking place in national life and allow comparisons between periods of time and geographical areas. ‘Open access to official statistics provides the citizen with more than a picture of society. It offers a window on the work and performance of government itself, showing the scale of government activity in every area of public policy and allowing the impact of public policies and actions to be assessed.’ UK White Paper on Open Government, 1993 quoted by Bill McLennan (Australian Statistician 1995–2000), in ‘Australian official statistics – aims, issues and prospects’, Address to the National Press Club, July 1995. The Australian Bureau of Statistics produces information on everything from counts of the population to the value of apple production. It is instrumental to the debates and decisions on everything from interest rate adjustments to the placement of aged care facilities. The Bureau gives Australia the chance to understand how it has been evolving as a nation as well as providing the objective statistics that enable the performance of governments to be assessed.