28 Feb 2018

Sound Archives: The Census

From Afternoons, 1:41 pm on 28 February 2018
Mr M A Watts with his sons filling in census forms, 1956. Evening Post newspaper

Mr M A Watts with his sons filling in census forms, 1956. Evening Post newspaper Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library

When Auckland’s population reached half a million in 1964, the city fathers were so excited they held a parade and released a souvenir pop song to mark the occasion.  

This year’s census will reveal new information about the booming population, but the associated housing crisis and traffic woes mean Aucklanders are probably a little less ecstatic about growth today.

In our visit to the sound archives of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision Sarah Johnston is going to play us some sound recordings about the five-yearly Kiwi count that is the census.