Metrication in Australia

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Metrication in Australia took place between 1970 and 1988. Before then, Australia used the imperial system for measurement, which it had inherited from the United Kingdom when it had been a colony of the latter. Between 1970 and 1988, imperial units were withdrawn from general legal use and replaced with SI metric units, facilitated through legislation and government agencies. SI units are now the sole legal units of measurement in Australia. Australia's largely successful transition to the metric system contrasts with the ongoing opposition to metrication in other English-speaking countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.

Contents 1 History 2 Exceptions 3 Notes 4 References 5 Further reading

[edit] History

Australia signed the Metre Convention (or Convention du Mètre) in 1947, which made metric units legal for use in Australia, although they were not commonly used until the Commonwealth government actively began converting imperial measurements to the metric system in the 1970s. In 1960, SI units were adopted as a worldwide system of measurement by international agreement at the General Conference on Weights and Measures. The metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin,^{[nb 1]} candela and mole were defined as base units in this system and units formed from combinations of these base units were known as "derived units". SI units were subsequently adopted as the basis for Australia's measurement standards, whereby they were defined as Australia's legal units of measurement.^[1]

In 1970, federal parliament passed the Metric Conversion Act, which created the Metric Conversion Board to facilitate the conversion of measurements from imperial to metric. A timeline of major developments in this conversion process is as follows:

• 1971 – the wool industry becomes one of the first industries to convert to the metric system in Australia.
• 1972 – primary schools begin teaching the metric system, followed by secondary schools in 1973. Horse racing converts in August 1972 and air temperatures are converted in September 1972.
• 1974 – large scale conversion across industries, including packaged grains, dairy products, eggs, building, timber, paper, printing, meteorological services, postal services, communications, road transport, travel, textiles, gas, electricity, surveying, sport, water supply, mining, metallurgy, chemicals, petroleum and automotive services. Most beverages, aside from spirits, also convert to metric units by the end of 1974. The conversion of road signs takes place in July 1974 and there is a publicity campaign to prepare the public.^[2]
• 1977 – all packaged goods are labelled in metric units, and the air transport, food, energy, machine tool, electronic, electrical engineering and appliance manufacturing industries convert.

The Metric Conversion Board spent $A5.955 million during its 11 years of operation, and the federal government distributed $10 million to the states to support their conversion process. "No accounting has been made of the cost to the private sector. The Prices Justification Tribunal reported that metrication was not used to justify price increases."^[3]

The Metric Conversion Board was dissolved in 1981, although the conversion to the metric system was not completed until 1988. Between 1981 and 1988 the conversion was the responsibility of the National Standards Commission in Australia. In 1987, real estate became the last major industry to convert and in 1988 the few remaining imperial units were removed from general use.

[edit] Exceptions

Despite metrication being an official success, older, imperial measurements are still sometimes encountered in either spoken or written form. Some examples include:

• Pre-metric fasteners are sold in hardware stores. Both Whitworth, SAE, other older standards, and metric nuts and bolts are readily available. The older standards tend to be stocked in a greater range of sizes as metrication provided an opportunity for bolt suppliers to rationalise their metric range.
• Most weight is in kilograms, but sometimes a newborn baby's weight may be quoted in pounds.^[4]
• Real estate and office space is advertised in square metres but rural land areas are sometimes referred to in acres.^[5]
• A person's height is sometimes given in feet and inches^[6] but as more people calculate their Body Mass Index, metric measurements are becoming prevalent.^{[citation needed]}
• Old measuring words such as ems, ens, and dots per inch (dpi) are still found in the Australian printing industry.
• Paper sizes are metric, e.g., A4 or A3 and the weight of the paper is given in grams per square metre, but there are many references to US Letter as word processor packages often default to US standards.
• Beer glass sizes are based on older imperial sizes but rounded to the nearest 5 ml.
• Historical writing and presentations use older, pre-metric units to to reflect the context of the era represented and preserve the accuracy of the measurements.
• Though the tide charts and weather reports are given in metric measures, some surf reports are given in feet.^[7]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ The kelvin was known as the degree Kelvin at the time.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Wilks, K.J (1992). Metrication in Australia : a review of the effectiveness of policies and procedures in Australia's conversion to the metric system. Canberra: Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce, Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-24860-2. 
• "Significant achievements and the history of measurement in Australia". Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources - National Measurement Institute. http://www.measurement.gov.au/index.cfm?event=object.showContent&objectID=C4E7F12C-BCD6-81AC-1F733492AF7B3121. Retrieved 2006-06-09.