A dump of census data provided front page fodder on this day in 1987, including the fact that 75 per cent of Canberrans were driving to work.
In the first update to the city snapshot since the 1981 census, we learned the median age had risen from a sprightly 26 to 28, and more than half of all Canberrans with a job were working for the Commonwealth public service.
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More than one quarter of the ACT workforce was employed as clerks. Median household income was $36,900 per annum. On census night in June 1986, the ACT population was 249,407 (the latest census has us now at 454,000).
Dating the census was the fact it was the first to gather information on de facto relationships.
The news article said the statistic that was going to concern planners was the huge number driving their own cars to work. 78,021 people drove to work in their own cars, 12,443 went as passengers, 10,353 went by bus and 4084 walked.
The number driving themselves in jumped by 25 per cent from the previous census, whereas bus passengers had risen by only 14 per cent.
The median income was $16,200.
