Australia Philately: 1973 Metric Conversion

Four 7c stamps to commemorate Australia’s change to metric measurements were issued on 7th March, 1973.

The stamps are intended to create public awareness of the changes now taking place, and to focus on four aspects of the metric system which most Australians will encounter frequently – length, volume, mass and temperance.

The series was designed by the Melbourne firm of Weatherhead and Sitt, Pty. Ltd., who also prepared the official first day cover. After considering a number of approaches to the subject, Bruce Weathehead and Alex Stitt adopted a cartoon style to emphasize forcefully and humourously how metric conversion affects people’s daily lives.

The stamps will be on sale at post offices for about four weeks, and at philatelic sales centres for about six months.

Printing was carried out on the new Rembrandt photogravure machine at the Note Printing Branch of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Melbourne, on KP5D unwatermarked coated paper incorporating helecon. Sheet format is similar to that of the 7c 1972 Christmas stamps, as explained in the December Bulletin – each of the four Metric Conversion stamps was printed in sheets 300-on, in six panes of 50, and then guillotined into sheets of 100 for post office sale. The perforated size of the horizontal-format Temperature stamp is 37.75 mm x 24.15 mm, and 24.15 mm x 37.75 mm for the vertical Volume, Mass and Length stamps. Diagonal marginal markings occur on one-third of the issued sheets, for the reasons outlined in the previous Bulletin.

Colours in printing order, are: Length – pink, green, yellow, grey, black; Volume – pink, green, red, black; Mass – pink, yellow, blue, black; Temperature – yellow, green, pink, black. Five cylinders were for the Length stamp, and four for each of the others.

Details

Date of Issue: 7 March 1973
Withdrawn Date:
Invalidated:
Designer: Weatherhead and Stitt Pty Ltd, Melbourne
Printer: Note Printing Branch, Reserve Bank of Australia, Melbourne
Press: Rembrandt
Process: Photogravure
Cylinders: In printing order
- Pink – Green – Yellow – Grey – Black (Length)
- Pink – Green – Red – Black (Volume)
- Pink – Yellow – Blue – Black (Mass)
- Yellow – Green – Pink – Black (Temperature)
Paper: KP5D unwatermarked coated paper incorporating helecon
Watermark: None
Perf: Comb
- 14.75 x 14 (horizontal)
- 14 x 14.75 (vertical)
Sheet: Printed in six panes of 50 stamps (R10 x 5), guillotined through vertical gutter into two panes, and separated by a horizontal gutter for distribution.
Quantity:
- 10,014,000 (Length)
- 10,699,000 (Volume)
- 10,622,500 (Mass)
- 10,889,000 (Temperature)