4.3, 4.5 &4.6 -WP4 Demonstrators – D3 Historical Census Data Technical Report

We report on a research project into the HCCDA (Historical Census and Colonial Data Archive).

The research project has consisted of close reading of the data, consultation with domain

experts to assess and clarify the historical context in which the data was originally captured,

and the development of an ontological structure (represented in .TTL or Turtle) to represent

information in a knowledge graph (in adherence to the RDF or Resource Description

Framework abstract data model).

We additionally report on a deep dive into data from New South Wales (NSW) focusing on a

specific data category -occupations - as expressed in all relevant Censuses (1833 - 1901

inclusive). We have also examined this category longitudinally looking at censuses collected

across all of the colonies. For consistency, the longitudinal study has included only those years

when the census was collected in all colonies in the same year (1861, 1881, 1891, and 1901).