Zenith Paint was produced by British Australian Lead Manufacturers Pty Ltd with factories in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. The company produced a full range of paint types, including interior and exterior enamels and roof and bridge paint. The paints were machine mixed which provided a greater consistency of colour than in the older hand mixed paints. However the paint still needed some preparation before it could be used by the decorator and the colour card provides instructions for this process.

Lead paint contained white lead which is toxic to humans and is readily absorbed. Queensland restricted the use of lead paint as early as 1923, though it continued to be manufactured in the other states up to the 1960s, though increasingly less so. Paint with white lead was banned from domestic use after 1970. However lead based paints pose a problem in the older Australian home which may be undergoing renovation or restoration, as the paint removal process can be dangerous through ingestion of lead paint particles.

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing. From the ground up August 2004-