dunum or donum
a traditional unit of land area in the Middle East and the Balkans. The unit is of Turkish origin, but it seems to be obsolete in modern Turkey. As it is commonly used today in Israel and Palestine and in Croatia and other areas of the former Yugoslavia, the dunum is a metric unit equal to 1000 square meters or 0.1 hectare. The traditional size seems to have been around 900 square meters. In Mesopotamia and Arabia, the dunum was a larger unit, traditionally in the range of 2500 to 4000 square meters. In modern Iraq, the dunum is now standardized at 2500 square meters.

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictD.html

As with all historical units that varied considerably, when the countries that used them went metric, the unit names were retained and given rounded metric values.

When an imperialist claims that non-metric units are still in use, what they fail to include is that only the name is used and the historical meaning has been changed to a more metric friendly size. For example the pound in Europe is 500 g and the pint is 500 mL.

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunam) the exact value of the donum depended on the country concerned. Wikipedia lists values of 1000 m² (Isreal, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey), 919.3 m² (Ottoman Empire, British Mandated Palestine), 1337.8 m² (Northern Cyprus) and 2500 m² (Iraq).

These variations show the need for a standardised system of measure which is what SI is all about.

I gave the Maltese units in imperial units because that was their legal definition. The approximate metric equivalents are:

xiber = 262 mm
tomna = 1125 m²
garra = 10.80 L
ratal = 793 g

The donum is disappearing from official use, e.g. title deeds are now generally shown only in sq m.

Imperial measurements do survive in some aspects of Cyprus law, e.g. the planning rule that a piece of land must be within 600 feet of a registered road in order to get a permit for building.

Imperial miles have also gone from road signs in the Sovereign Base Areas, which of course are British terriitories not part of the Republic of Cyprus.

One thing that caught my eye was the mention of traces of Australia’s Imperial past that were evident even in the public domain. I wonder if Derek can amplify a little.

When I visited Cyprus in 2004, the guide book indicated that the Republic used metric speed limits, while the Turkish North used mph. In fact I saw nothing but metric everywhere, though some of the left hand drive vehicles in the North are ancient and have pre-metric speedometers. One height limit sign in Nicosia was in feet and inches, but 6 months later this had vanished.

A few of the now-legacy units described include:

xiber = 10 5/16 imperial inches
tomna = 5/18 acre
garra = 2 3/8 gallons
ratal = 28 ounces