Units and Conversions
Units have been generally expressed as those applying at the particular time. No attempt has been made in the text to convert from imperial to metric. The table below contains conversion of some of the more frequently used units.
Currency
Australian currency was converted from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents on 14th February 1966.
| 1 pound = £1.0.0 = 20 shillings = 240 pence = $2.00 |
| 1 guinea = £1.1.0 = $2.10 |
| 3 shillings and 6 pence = 3s 6d = 3/6 |
| 6 pence = 6d = 6d |
Weights and Measures
Conversion of weights and measures occurred gradually during the 1970s. January 1st 1973 was regarded as a watershed in the Metric Conversion process.
| Length | 1 inch (or in. or ") | 2.54 centimetres (cm) | |
| 1 foot (feet or ft. or ') | 30.48 centimetres | ||
| or | 0.3048 metres (m) | ||
| 1 yard = 3 feet | 0.9144 metres | ||
| 1 fathom = 6 feet | 1.829 metres | ||
| 1 chain = 66 feet | 20.12 metres | ||
| 1 mile = 80 chains = 1,760 yards | 1,609 metres | ||
| 1 international nautical mile | 1,852 metres | ||
| 1 league = about 3 miles | about 5000 metres | ||
| Area | 1 acre = 43,560 square feet | 0.4047 hectares | |
| or | 4,047 square metres (m2) | ||
| Volume | 1 cubic foot | 0.0283 cubic metres (m3) | |
| 1 cubic yard | 0.7646 cubic metres | ||
| 1 acre foot = about 271,300 imperial gallons | 1,233 cubic metres | ||
| 1 imperial gallon | 4.546 litres (L) | ||
| 1 million gallons | 4,546 cubic metres | ||
| Weight | 1 pound (lb) | 0.456 kilogram | |
| 1 ton | 1.016 tonnes (t) | ||
| Pressure | 1 pound per square inch (psi) | 6.895 kilopascals | |
| 1 foot head of water | 2.989 kilopascal | ||
| Salinity | 1 grain per imperial gallon | 14.286 parts per million | |
| or | 14.286 milligrams per litre |
The above information on the conversion of Imperial Units has been sourced from ‘Building a State’ by J.S.H. LePage and published by the Water Authority of Western Australia, 1986 and from 'River of Steel' by Richard G. Hartley and published by Access Press, 2007.
