Australian sizes for milk and other beverages seem to have been driven by standardisation by the suppliers of containers.
The reason Australia got a 600 mL size for milk and soft drinks is that it was a replacement for the Imperial pint of 568 mL. (The US pint is 473 mL.) The public was wary of metric measures at the beginning of the conversion process and would have seen a reduction of the pint down to 500 mL as some kind of swindle, whether such a view was justified or not. The glass bottle was discontinued at about the same time leaving the gable-top waxed cardboard carton as the only container in which milk was marketed. It comes in cartons of 300 and 600 mL sizes and 1L. Plastic bottles or jugs are used for 1, 2 and 3 litre sizes. In the early 1970s, about the same time as metric measures were introduced, the various dairy marketing boards in Australian states began promoting flavoured milk as being something trendy, with brand names like Moove and Big M. Fruit juices were also distributed in the same type of containers as well as plastic bottles, so 600 mL and 300 mL became a standard size for non-alcoholic beverages. 375 mL is half the standard wine bottle or ‘long neck’ beer bottle of 750 mL, so that became the standard size for cans, and for small bottles, whether they held beer or Coke. (A 375 mL bottle is called a ‘stubby’ here in Victoria, but may have a different name in other states.) Some craft beers and all imported beers are in 300 or 330 mL bottles which makes me think I am being given short measure if I buy them. The 500 mL size looks like a perfectly reasonable replacement for the 473 mL US pint as it is 5.4% larger. A 600 mL container would be 21% larger than the pint it replaces and could be seen by consumers as a ploy to get them to buy more of the product than they need, or are used to buying. Best wishes from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It’s a cool wintry 12ºC, and sunny today. Peter Goodyear
