Volume 15, Number 1, May 1998
Contents
Abstracts
WORKERS FOR AUSTRALIA: A PROFILE OF BRITISH AND IRISH MIGRANTS ASSISTED TO NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1841
John McDonald, The Flinders University of South Australia
Eric Richards, The Flinders University of South Australia
Convict transportation to New South Wales was terminated in 1841. It was swiftly replaced by a new population stock in the form of the greatest Australian immigration before the gold rushes. This profile of 20,000 British and Irish assisted migrants, based on individual-level data, establishes their age, sex, religious, educational and occupational characteristics. Their composition differed markedly from the existing colonial population and other migrant flows at the time: They reflected the recruiting methods of the time as well as the changing migration propensities in the British Isles. The migrants were better human capital than was acknowledged at the time. They constituted a new start in Australian demographic development. This reconstruction of the socio-economic characteristics of the 1841 migrants provides a new mid-century benchmark for systematic comparisons with other migrant populations, within and beyond Australia, and in other periods. It is a contribution to the quantitative study of colonial society.
MAKING SENSE OF CENSUS DATA: A COMPONENTS ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYMENT CHANGE AMONG INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS
John Taylor, The Australian National University
Martin Bell, The University of Adelaide
The 1996 Census count of indigenous Australians included a substantial number of individuals who were not recorded as indigenous by the previous census. This paper considers the implications of this for interpreting change in employment numbers. Two adjustments are made to employment change data. First, reverse survival of the 1996 population is applied to reconstruct 1991 employment figures. Second, administrative data are used to discount employment generated by participation in labour market programs. The effect is to substantially deflate the strong intercensal employment growth apparent from census counts with the conclusion that the rate of indigenous employment in the mainstream labour market has fallen.
ASSESSING THE VALIDITY OF INTERCENSAL COMPARISONS OF INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS, 1986-96
Boyd Hunter, The Australian National University
The credibility of analysis of 1996 Census data on indigenous Australians hinges on who the people are who have changed their indigenous identification between the last two censuses. The number of people who identify as indigenous in either the Post-Enumeration Survey or the census is more stable than the prima facie evidence indicates. Also, the continuing low levels of education among the indigenous population means that self-identification signifies that one is, more than likely, disadvantaged. While it is difficult to say with absolute certainty that census statistics accurately reflect the economic status of the indigenous population, they are sufficiently credible to be taken at face value.
FEMALE STERILIZING OPERATIONS IN NEW SOUTH WALES: A DEMOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE
Farhat Yusuf, Macquarie University
Stefania Siedlecky, Macquarie University
This paper examines trends in female sterilizing operations from a demographic perspective. These operations have declined in New South Wales since 1981, with a substantial drop in tubal ligation and hysterectomy, particularly among younger women. The decline in sterilization of women of childbearing age has been due to postponement of births. Younger women have avoided terminal methods of birth control and continued to use methods, such as oral contraceptives and back-up abortion, which allow for a pregnancy at a later age. Sterilizing operations still remain the most commonly reported means of birth control by women over age 35.
