The Queen's Effigy through the years - a brief history of the portraits on Australia's decimal coins.

Three identical coins... but what lies beneath?

I was rummaging through the change box the other day, and noticed that some of the older coins had a different effigy of The Queen on them, so I took a closer look. I eventually found three 10 cent coins with different effigies on them, but all facing the same way. So I did a little reading about them...

There are actually 4 different effigies (or portraits) of the Queen, but only three of them are on the coins of Australia's decimal currency. The first effigy of the Queen, created by Mary Gillick, was first used in 1952 on the old Imperial coins, and depicted the young, uncrowned monarch.

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The Second, but First Decimal Portrait

In 1966 Australia changed over to the decimal system, and in so doing also introduced an updated portrait of The Queen wearing a diamond tiara, and created by Arnold Machin. Interestingly, this portrait was used on the Australian currency two years before being introduced on British currencies. Arnold Machin is also famous for his portrait of The Queen, which featured on British stamps from 1967, and is widely known as the most reproduced portrait of all time.

This 1969 coin is the one I found in the change box.

The Third Portrait

In 1985 a new portrait of The Queen appeared on Australian coins, this time created by Raphael Maklouf with Her Majesty wearing The Royal Diadem, which is worn to and from the State opening of Parliament.

This is a rather worn 1988 10 Cent piece.

The Fourth

The fourth effigy of the Queen, created by Ian Rank-Broadley, was introduced in 1998, and features The Queen wearing the tiara given to her as a wedding gift by here grandparents.
Here is The Queen on the 2005 10 cent coin.

An interesting fact is that a Royal Mint convention dating back to the seventeenth century dictates that successive monarchs face in alternative directions on their coinage. King George VI faces left on all his coins, and so The Queen faces right.

I wonder if we'll get another portrait of The Queen, or if we'll have to wait for a new monarch... Luckily they don't use Prime Ministers... we'd have a new one every other year!!

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