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Australian coins refers to the coins which are or were in use as Australian currency. During the early days of the colonies that formed Australia, foreign currency was used, but in 1910, a decade after federation, Australian coins were introduced. Australia used pounds, shillings and pence until 1966, when it adopted the decimal system with the Australian dollar divided into 100 cents.

First coins

For many years after the first Australian colony, New South Wales, was founded in 1788, it did not have its own currency and had to rely on the coins of other countries. During the early days of the colony, rum was sometimes used as a currency because of the shortage of coins.

Spanish dollars were sometimes cut into "pieces of eight", quarters, and then into 2/3 and 1/3 segments, with the 2/3 segments (1/6 of original coin) being "shillings" and the 1/3 segments (1/12 of original coin) "sixpences". * In 1791 Governor Phillip of New South Wales fixed the value of the Spanish dollar to equal five shillings.

The settlers did have some George III one-penny coins, which were referred to as "Cartwheel pennies". These were the first British coins to be officially exported to the Australian colonies, and so can be considered Australia's first official coins. They were dated 1797 and 1799, with Britannia on one side and King George III on the other.

In 1812, Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales bought Spanish dollar coins, following the arrival of the ship Samarang at Port Jackson with 40,000 Spanish dollars, paying four shillings and nine pence for each dollar. He was worried that the coins would quickly be exported out of the colony and had holes cut in the middle of them to try to keep them in Australia. These were known as Holey dollars (valued at five shillings), with the piece from the middle being called the Dump (valued at around 15 pence). Both were declared legal currency on September 30, 1813.

British currency became the official currency of the Australian colonies after 1825, with almost £100,000-worth of British coins being imported during 1824–25. The Holey dollar was no longer legal tender after 1829.

Unofficial gold coins were used during the gold rush of the 1850s. Traders' tokens were also used because of the shortage of coins caused by the large increase in population. Attempts to make gold coins in Adelaide in 1852 failed because of the discovery of a die-crack. Australia's first official mint was in Sydney, founded in 1855. It produced gold coins with an original design between 1855 and 1870, with "Sydney Mint, Australia, One Sovereign" on one side and Queen Victoria on the other, before starting in 1870 to mint gold coins of British design.

Australian £sd

In 1898 the British government allowed two colonies, New South Wales and Victoria, to mint silver and bronze coins at their mints in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.

Introduction of the coins Federation in 1901 gave the Commonwealth a constitutional power to issue coins and removed this power from the States. However, British coins continued in use until 1910, when Australian silver coins were introduced. These included florins, shillings, sixpences and threepences. They had a portrait of King Edward VII on one side. Australian pennies and half-pennies were introduced into circulation the following year. In 1931 gold sovereigns stopped being minted in Australia. A crown or five-shilling coin was minted in 1937 and 1938.

Revaluation In 1947 due to the cost of WW2 the silver content of the coins was reduced from 0.825% to 0.50% of the coin weight, this lasted until decimalisation of the 14 February 1966. The rarest coin is the 1930 Penny.

1910 Series
Value Diameter Weight Composition Edge Obverse and Title Reverse Minted Year
3 pence 16 mm 1.41 g 92.5% silver
7.5% copper 		Reeded EDWARDVS VII D: G: BRITT: OMN: REX F: D: IND: IMP: 1908 coat of arms 1910
6 pence ? 2.82 g 92.5% silver ?
1 shilling 23.5 mm 5.65 g Reeded
2 shillings = 1 florin 28.5 mm 11.31 g

1911 Series
Value Diameter Weight Composition Edge Obverse and Title Reverse Minted Year
½ penny Bronze GEORGIVS V D. G. BRITT: OMN: REX F. D. IND: IMP: Value 1911 – 1936
1 penny
3 pence As previous series 1908 coat of arms
6 pence
1 shilling
2 shillings = 1 florin

1937 Series
Value Diameter Weight Composition Edge Obverse and Title Reverse Minted Year
½ penny Bronze GEORGIVS VI D: G: BR: OMN: REX F: D: IND: IMP: Value 1938 – 1939
½ penny Kangaroo 1939 – 1948
1 penny 1938 – 1948
3 pence As previous series three stalks of wheat and a ribbon 1938 – 1944
6 pence 1908 coat of arms 1938 – 1945
1 shilling Ram's head 1938 – 1944
2 shillings = 1 florin 1912 coat of arms 1938 – 1945
5 shillings = 1 crown 28.28 g 92.5% silver Crown 1937 – 1938

1945, 1949, 1953, 1955 Series
Series Composition Obverse and Title ½d 1d 3d 6d 1s 2s
1946 50% silver, 40% copper, 5% zinc, and 5% nickel As previous series None None 1947, 1948 1946, 1948 1946, 1948 1946, 1947
1949 ½d & 1d as 1937 series, the rest as previous series GEORGIVS VI D: G: BR: OMN: REX FIDEI DEF 1949 – 1952 1950 – 1952 1951 – 1952
1953 As previous series ELIZABETH . II. DEI. GRATIA. REGINA 1953 – 1955 1953 1953 – 1954
1959 ELIZABETH . II. DEI. GRATIA. REGINA. F: D: 1959 – 1964 1955 – 1964 1955 – 1963 1956 – 1963

See also: Half penny, One penny, Three pence, sixpence, shilling, florin, crown.

Decimal currency

On 14 February 1966 decimal coins were introduced. The old pound was equal to two dollars. All coins portray Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, have designs by the Australian-born artist Stuart Devlin on the reverse, and are produced by the Royal Australian Mint. They now comprise 50-cent, 20-cent, ten-cent and five-cent coins – all still referred to as 'silver' though actually 75% copper and 25% nickel – and for many years there were also "bronze" two-cent and one-cent coins.

The 50-cent coin originally had a circular shape, and contained 80% silver and 20% copper, so that the material of the coin was worth more than 50 cents. It was made to almost identical dimensional specifications as the British 2-1/2-shilling Half-Crown, and was probably also influenced by the US 1964 JFK 90% Silver Half-dollar. However, to avoid confusion among the round coins and because of its excessive value, it was only produced for one year then withdrawn from circulation. There were no 50 cent coins minted for two years and then it was changed to a 12-sided shape for 1969 and all following years, but the 12 sided issue was minted as a specimen piece in 1966-67 to test's the design. It has since been issued in both standard and commemorative designs. The standard designs on both versions of the coin are the same: the obverse carries the effigy of the sovereign, and the reverse shows the Coat of Arms of Australia. The dodecagonal version has a mass of 15.55g and a diameter of 31.51mm, and the round, silver version has a mass of 13.28g and diameter of 31.51mm. An estimate of the value of the silver in the circular coin can be found if the coin is reckoned as being worth XAU 0.375. 75.3 Australian 1966 round 50c coins make up a fine kilo of silver. In Feb. 2006 prices this is about AUD 4.85 (approx. nine times the face value). Many Australians mistakenly believe that the 1966 round 50c piece is quite rare, when in fact Royal Australian Mint records indicate that some 36 million examples were struck, and 11 million were released into circulation. They are hardly ever seen in business today, and nearly all the Australian round 50-cent coins from 1966 that remain in existence are now only traded for their bullion value — very few are sold as collectors' items. They are often confused with the round 50-cent coin from New Zealand with the date 1967-2006, which has a maritime scene on the reverse.

"Gold" two-dollar and one-dollar coins were introduced in the late 1980s. The one-dollar coin was introduced in 1984, to replace the banknote of the same value. The two-dollar coin, also replacing a banknote, was introduced in 1988. These have content of 2% nickel, 6% aluminium and 92% copper. Thus all Australian coins in use currently are composed of more than half copper.

The one- and two-cent coins were discontinued in 1991 and withdrawn from circulation.

|| 5 cents || 19.41 mm || 0.3 mm? || 2.83 g ||rowspan=4| Cupronickel
75% copper
25% nickel ||rowspan=3| Milled ||rowspan=4| Queen Elizabeth II || Echidna ||rowspan=3| 1966 || 10 cents || 23.60 mm || 2 mm || 5.65 g || Lyrebird || 20 cents || 28.52 mm || 2.5 mm || 11.30 g || Platypus || 50 cents
Dodecagon || 31.51 mm (shortest) || 3 mm || 15.55 g || Plain || Coat of arms || 1969 || dollar (Australian)|$1" target="_blank" >* || 25.00 mm || 3 mm || 9.00 g ||rowspan=2| 92% copper
6% aluminium
2% nickel ||rowspan=2| Interrupted milled ||rowspan=2| Queen Elizabeth II || Five kangaroos || 1984 || dollars (Australian)|$2" target="_blank" >* || 20.50 mm || 3.2 mm || 6.60 g || Aboriginal elder || 1988
Australian coins *
Image Value Diameter Thickness Weight Composition Edge Obverse Reverse First Minted Year
1 cent (no longer used) 17.53 mm 2.59 g 97% copper
2.5% zinc
0.5% tin 		Queen Elizabeth II Feathertail Glider 1966
2 cents (no longer used) 21.59 mm 5.18 g Frill-necked Lizard
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimeter, a standard for world coins.

Image:Australian Coins Front.jpg|Size comparison, Australian coins in rank of denomination Image:Aus coins queen elizabeth 1966.jpg|Queen Elizabeth II on 1966 coins

Commemorative coins

Many special coins have been produced, with imagery representing an event replacing the usual design on the reverse side of the coin. For some years, all the coins are replaced with a different design for that year. In other cases, only a few coins have the new design, which are released as special commemorative coins, although many usually end up in circulation. Because of their larger size, it is usually the 50c, 20c and $1 that have new designs; the $2, 10c and 5c are rarely changed. The commemorative coins include:

Image:Australian50centcoin1970 from commons.jpg|1970 50 cent coin commemorating Captain Cook Image:Australian50centcoin1998 from commons.jpg|1998 50 cent coin commemorating the discovery of Bass Strait in 1798 by Matthew Flinders, who named the Strait after his colleague George Bass. The man on the left is Bass and the man on the right is Flinders. Image:Australian50centcoin2001NSW from commons.jpg|2001 50 cent coin commemorating the centenary of the Federation of Australia with the arms of the state of New South Wales Image:Australian 50cent 2006 commonwealth games.jpg|2005 coin commemorating the 2006 Commonwealth Games

Collectable coins

The Royal Australian Mint regularlly releases collectable coins, one of the most famous of which is the gold two hundred dollar coin. An interesting note about Australian collectable coins is that they are all legal tenderhttp://www.ramint.gov.au/about_ram/default.cfm?Defaultpage=faq.cfm (Question 11) and can be used directly as currency or converted to "normal" coinage at a bank.

See also

References

External links

Coins | Economy of Australia | Australian coins

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Australian coins".

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