![Metrication in Australia effectively began in 1966 with the conversion to decimal currency under the auspices of the Decimal Currency Board.[1]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Metrication-australia-logo.png "Metrication in Australia"){kind=logo}
Metrication in Australia
Metrication in Australia effectively began in 1966 with the conversion to decimal currency under the auspices of the Decimal Currency Board.[1] The conversion of measurements—metrication—commenced subsequently in 1971, under the direction of the Metric Conversion Board and actively proceeded until the Board was disbanded in 1981.
Before 1970, Australia mostly used imperial units, inherited from the United Kingdom. Between 1970 and 1988, imperial units were withdrawn from general legal use and replaced with the International System of Units, facilitated through legislation and government agencies. SI units are now the only legal units of measurement in Australia. Australia's largely successful transition to the metric system parallels that of metrication in New Zealand but contrasts with metrication in the United States and metrication in the United Kingdom.
Although there was debate in Australia's first Parliament after federation to consider adopting the metric system,[2] metric units first became legal for use in Australia in 1947 when Australia signed the Metre Convention (or Convention du Mètre). However, Imperial weights and measures were most commonly used until the Commonwealth government began the metric changeover in the 1970s. SI units were subsequently adopted as the basis for Australia's measurement standards, whereby they were defined as Australia's legal units of measurement.[3]
