Unless of course Alisdair, Melbournians imported nails from the US just like they imported houses and other things. There is a very interesting and erudite chapter in Miles Lewis's on-line publication Australian Building a Cultural Investigation at  http://www.arbld.unimelb.edu.au/~milesbl/dbmenu.html

which discusses nails (under metals).

Another point to consider is that US made ships if wrecked in Australia would of course have American fastenings.

I have a  screw in my foot that looks like it came out of one of those hardware catalogues.

yours

Iain Stuart

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