🇦🇺 Australia Guide
Does Australia Use Stone for Weight?
No. Australia is the Commonwealth country that actually finished metrication. The stone was swept away in the 1970s, and kilograms are now universal. Only living memory keeps the stone alive.
The Short Answer: No, Australia Went Fully Metric
Australia is the counter-example to Britain. Where the UK started metrication in 1965 and then stalled, leaving the stone alive in daily life, Australia started in 1970 and finished the job. Today an Australian bathroom scale shows kilograms, an Australian doctor records kilograms, an Australian newspaper reports kilograms, and an Australian racecard lists jockey weights in kilograms. The stone survives only in the memories of older Australians.
This makes Australia the most useful comparison for anyone asking why Britain kept the stone. Same imperial inheritance, same language, same sporting culture, completely different outcome. The difference was not culture but policy: Australia's conversion was centrally planned, properly funded, and seen through to the end.
How Australia Killed the Stone: 1970 to 1988
The timeline of Australia's metrication is a model of how to do it properly:
- 1968: a Senate select committee unanimously recommends metric conversion, noting that over 75% of Australia's exports already went to metric countries.
- 1970: the federal government establishes the Metric Conversion Board and begins the changeover, industry by industry.
- 1973: all primary and secondary schools are teaching exclusively in metric. A generation grows up never learning stone, pounds, or ounces in the classroom.
- 1970s: horse racing metricates early and easily. The Melbourne Cup shifts from 2 miles to 3,200 metres, and weights go to kilograms.
- 1988: the conversion is declared essentially complete. Australia is, for practical purposes, a metric country.
Contrast this with Britain, where the Metrication Board (established 1969) was abolished in 1980 with the job half done, leaving the dual system Britain still lives with. Our UK metrication history tells that story in full.
What Remains: Living Memory and Stubborn Idioms
The stone is not entirely dead in Australia; it is just retired. Australians who were adults in the 1960s grew up weighing themselves in stone and pounds, and many still convert mentally: they hear "85 kg" and think "about 13 and a half stone." Ask a 75-year-old in Sydney how much they weigh and you may well get stone. Ask a 30-year-old and you will get kilograms, possibly with a blank look if you say "stone."
A few imperial ghosts linger in Australian speech, mostly as idioms rather than measurements: distances are "miles away," heavy things "weigh a ton." Newborn babies are still announced in pounds as well as kilograms, a sentimental habit rather than a measurement. But these are fossils. No Australian institution uses the stone for anything, and no Australian under about 55 uses it in earnest.
The generational cut-off is the key insight: because schools went metric-only by 1973, anyone educated entirely after that date never learned the stone at school. The unit dies with the generation that learned it. Britain, which never cut the school link so cleanly, kept the stone alive in each new generation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Australia use stone for weight?
No, not any more. Australia completed its metric conversion in the 1970s and 1980s, and kilograms are now universal. Only Australians who grew up before metrication still think in stone and pounds, and even they use kg in any formal context.
When did Australia stop using stone?
Australia's Metric Conversion Board ran the changeover from 1970 to 1988. Schools were teaching exclusively in metric by 1973, and imperial units were progressively withdrawn from trade, sport, and official life through the decade.
Do older Australians still use stone?
Many do in conversation. Australians who were adults before the 1970s often still picture body weight in stone and pounds, though they will give and receive official figures in kilograms without difficulty.
Does Australian horse racing use stone?
No. Australian racing metricated early: the Melbourne Cup changed from 2 miles to 3,200 metres, and jockey weights are given in kilograms. This is a sharp contrast with British and Irish racing, which still use stone.