Ration Coupon - 1 Gallon

The Commonwealth Liquid Fuel Control Board administered petrol rationing in Australia from 1940, a scheme introduced not primarily due to domestic scarcity but because of shipping vulnerability — tanker routes from the Dutch East Indies and the US Gulf Coast were genuinely exposed once Japan entered the war. By 1945, civilian allocations had been tightened repeatedly, and the gallon coupon represented the smallest transactional unit in a system designed to make every litre politically accountable.

Rationing was not lifted until 1950, making 1945 coupons mid-series rather than terminal — survivors exist in fair numbers simply because unspent coupons were routinely pocketed rather than presented.