Australia's Bureau of Statistics maintained an A Series Index of prices from 1912, back calculated to 1901, the date of Australian Federation.
As a result of the 1920 Royal Inquiry into the Basic Wage the ABS developed the C Series Index of different price bundles.
The importance of statistical price series was caused by the Australian basic wage, a conception of minimal requirements for a family of four or five, based on a single male unskilled wage earner, as given in the Harvester Judgement.
The basic wage was a common component of almost all Australian workers' wages (supplemented in most cases by a margin paid for advanced skills by award), and due to inflation the judgement required periodic updating to account for inflation.
The C Series Index covered, "food and groceries, house rents (4 and 5-roomed houses), clothing, household drapery, household utensils, fuel, lighting, urban transport fares, smoking and some miscellaneous items.