To go along with my previous post on how to enable the en_AU locale in Magento, here is my unofficial, incomplete translation for said locale: en_au.zip. To install, simply unzip it to app/locale/ alongside the existing en_US locale directory.

Please note that this is incomplete - I haven’t made changes to things like “Zip Code” for example.

I have requested an official Australian locale and translation be added so hopefully I can move some of these changes across to the core soon, maybe for inclusion in the next version of Magento?

Update: Please note that en_AU is now included by default in Magento so all this is unnecessary.

Simple tip here on how to enable the “English (Australia)” locale in Magento: simply go to app/etc/config.xml and, under config->global->locale->allow->codes add in the text <en_AU/>. Your config file should have something similar to the following:

<config>
    <global>
        <locale>
            <allow>
                <codes>
                    <en_AU/>

You can even do this before installation to allow the selection of the Australian locale during the install process.

I have completed the first part of a new module for the open source ecommerce software Magento which aims to add in a bunch of additional functionality specific for Australia. You can find the module, along with installation instructions at the Fontis Magento project page.

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Is it just me or does the Australian Government fundamentally have something against its citizens using the Internet? The latest is a proposal to require ISPs to ban users who are caught pirating copyrighted material. I thought punishing criminals was the job of the police?

However, I have worked out what the reason is behind all these attempts to destroy Australia’s internet access: the Government is attempting to dissuade or prevent people from using the Internet so that our crappy networks will be able to handle the increasing bandwidth needed for multimedia transfers (think YouTube, IPTV, Skype, etc). Instead of upgrading the networks I’m sure it’s much cheaper to just stop people using them. Devious bastards.

Update: Another article on the subject from Ars Technica.