A history of measurement standards in Australia, including the change to decimal currency in the 1970s.
All civilisations have relied on consistent measurements. In modern society they are a vital part of everyday life. Largely unseen and unrecognised, myriad measurements underpin the daily routines of home, work and play and ensure the effective operation of science and industry, transport and trade. It is critical to our individual welfare and the wealth of our nation that our measurements are right and that we can trust them to be so. That is the work of a national measurement system?the institutions and practices that keep our measurements sound.
Set within an international context, this book tells the story of how Australia developed its own ways of providing for good measures. It begins with the modes of measurement brought with white settlement to Australia and the chaos that emerged from the conflicting and fragmented approach of the Australian colonies.
Recognising that common ways of measuring were a natural accompaniment to the uniform trade that motivated the proponents of federation, those who wrote the constitution for the Australian nation installed the explicit power for the federal government to override parochial interests and make national laws on weights and measures. Federal governments, though, have been strangely ambivalent about using that power.
This book peels back the layers of history to show reasons, processes and consequences. As it traces the development of Australia's measurement system under the imperatives of trade, then the pressures of industrialisation, war, technological change and globalisation, the narrative reveals an enterprise that was often at odds with the character of our federated system of national governance and frequently constrained by governments with little understanding of their own measurement role. Our evolving measurement institutions have nevertheless proved remarkably dedicated, resilient and innovative, and widely admired.
As Australia confronts the measurement challenges of tomorrow's cutting edge technology and global trade, the creation of a new National Institute of Measurement in 2004 is a landmark step along an ever-changing road.
