The Surprising Scarcity of Imperial Weights made in Australia


Rick Willis

Australiana, Vol 48 no 3, August 2026

Imperial weights in pounds, ounces and other units were essential for commerce and were used throughout Australia until the 1970s, when the more rational international metric system displaced them. Fifty years on, Australian-made imperial weights are now rare. Rick Willis has tracked down and illustrated some of the Imperial weights likely to have been manufactured in Australia, both before and after Federation. He also explains the verification marking of British weights in Australia.

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