The Australian Wool Testing Authority was established in 1957 by the Commonwealth Government of the day in response to requests from the Australian wool industry. The statutory AWTA was privatised in 1982 and AWTA Ltd was established as a Public Company, Limited by Guarantee. This is a special kind of company structure, commonly used for not-for-profit organisations.

AWTA Ltd's charter requires it to deliver it's services to the wool industry at a minimum cost. Because it is a Company Limited by Guarantee it has no shareholders, and consequently it does not have to return dividends. Due to its structure, AWTA Ltd is exempt from Income Tax by virtue of Section 50-40 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

This means that the Company can operate at much lower levels of profitability than other public companies, thereby minimising the cost of its services. All profits are retained, and used to fund capital expenditure, and to minimise fee increases.

The Member Guarantors, who appoint the Board, are also representative of all sectors of the industry, including wool growers, wool selling brokers, wool exporters, private treaty merchants, and wool processors.