Hi all: Lessons I have learned so far from “Metrication in Australia”. I read some of the PDF after downloading “Metrication in Australia” from http://themetricmaven.com. I noted one difference to the approach towards Metrication page 6 was the avoidance of conversion factors in Education but have students pick 11 common things, measure them in SI units and use them for everyday comparison. This approach was also important for stores and the general public.
Metric units were not permitted for legal trade in the state level and needed to be recognized on the federal level before the states changed their laws (page 9). The time 1967 countries that were trading partners were transitioning to the SI system. A Metric Conversion Board was created and invited people from industry and commerce to be part of sub-committees. “The term “voluntary” was, therefore, taken to mean that, through industry-appointed Sector committees, each industry would have both the right and the responsibility to plan and implement conversion in its own way and to its own schedule”. (page 15) Also “Metric Conversion Act 1970 contained no penal clauses and the force of law would be achieved by amendment of existing State or Federal legislation …whenever the measurements to be used in particular activities are specifically indicated”. (page 15) For Construction (p 35) Adoption of Modules in 100mm was adopted. The “minimum permissible ceiling height was 8 ft. or 2438 mm”. So “Having thus established … 2400 mm, it was clear that sheet sizes 2400 X 1200 would be modular and could be used vertically or horizontally to fill the space without the need to cut and fit”. This allowed Manufacturers and designers to work together on building projects. In Agriculture the change to recording millimeters of rain made irrigation calculation simpler for farmers “used in conjunction with the information that one hectare is exactly 10 000 square meter, 1 mm rain is easily seen to be 10 000 L”. (page 54) The Metric Conversion Board (page 58) “provided posters to retailers and leaflets for customers, assistance in training retail staff, and display materials in supermarkets and other suitable locations”. These gems of examples in this document makes me think of what proposals may be in new legislation for transition to the International System of Units for the United States. -- Sincerely, Edward B.
