The Aussie - Australian Money - A History

Australian Currency

As we delve into the new age of cryptocurrency, I look back at how the Australian fiat currency developed and where it is at now.

Early Coins

In the early days of Europoean settlement in Australia, money was nearly non-existent. Initially wages were paid in supplies from communal stores before Rum became the main trading commodity for exchange.

The earliest currency used was English money, however, Spanish dollars also arrived aboard ships. In 1813, to stop these dollars being taken back by the ships, the New South Wales governor had the centres stamped out to create holey dollars, worth five schillings. The centres that were cut out became known as dumps, worth fifteen pence.

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These coins are now very rare reminders of one of the first currencies utilised in the early Australian colonies.

First Currency

In 1817, the Bank of New South Wales was established and banknotes and paper tokens were first issued.
In 1825, the British Government decreed that the sterling standard was to be utilised throughout the Empire and the first coins were minted in Australia.

Following Federation in 1901, Australian Commonwealth coins were introduced based on the British sterling system.

1910's to 1930's Imperial Australian Coins
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Pre-decimal Banknotes
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Decimal Currency

On 14th February 1966, Australia adopted a decimal currency system and dollars and cents replaced the pounds, shillings and pence with the new coinage consisted of silver and bronze.

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The 5c, 10c, 20c and 50c coins are made of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The $1 and $2 coins are made of 92% copper, 6% aluminium and 2% nickel.

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The $1 coin was introduced in 1984 to replace the $1 note and the$2 coin was introduced in 1988 to replace the $2 note. All Australian coins have the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front.

The 1c and 2c coins were removed from circulation in February 1992 but are still considered legal tender throughout the country.

The first 50c coin release in 1966 was 80% silver. However as the silver price rose above the face value of the coin the Mint suspended striking of the coin in March 1968.

Polymer Notes

In 1996 Australia's paper based notes were converted to polymer in an effort to prevent counterfeiting. The technology which produced the notes was developed in Australia and has now been adopted by many other countries across the world.

As technology has further improved, Australia has further strengthened the technology of it's notes, with new $5 and $10 notes being introduced this year.

As inflation increases, the 5c coin is now considered as not cost effective and may be removed from circulation in the near future.

Thanks for reading.

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