Units and Conversions

From Engineering Heritage Australia

Throughout this website, units have generally been expressed as those applying at the particular time. Where imperial units have been used, the table below contains conversion factors from imperial to metric for 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 ') = 12 inches 30.48 centimetres = 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 = 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 pint 0.568 litres (L)
1 imperial gallon = 8 pints 4.546 litres (L)
1 bushel = 8 gallons 363.7 litres
1 million gallons 4,546 cubic metres
Weight 1 ounce (oz) 28.34 grams
1 pound (lb) = 16 ounces 0.456 kilogram
1 stone = 14 pounds 6.35 kilograms
1 ton = 2,240 pounds 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 = 14.286 milligrams per litre
Temperature 32oF 0oC
212oF 100oC

The above information on the conversion of Imperial Units has been largely 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.

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