The Australian dollar is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Island states: Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. It is legal tender in Australia. Within Australia, it is almost always abbreviated with the dollar sign ($), with A$ or AU$ sometimes used to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The $ symbol precedes the amount. It is subdivided into 100 cents.
The British two pound (£2) coin of the pound sterling. Its obverse has featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II since the coin’s introduction. Three different portraits of the Queen have been used, with the current design by Jody Clark being introduced in 2015. The reverse design features Britannia.
The Australian pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. As with other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.
The twelve-sided Australian fifty-cent coin is the third-highest denomination coin of the Australian dollar and the largest in terms of size in circulation. It is equal in size and shape to the Cook Island $5 coin, and both remain to be the only 12-sided coins in the southern hemisphere. It was introduced in 1969 to replace the round fifty-cent coin issued in 1966.
The Australian twenty-cent coin of the Australian decimal currency system was issued with conversion to decimal currency on 14 February 1966, replacing the florin which was worth two shillings – a tenth of a pound.
The Australian five-cent coin is the lowest-denomination circulating coin of the decimal Australian dollar introduced in 14 February 1966, replacing the pre-decimal sixpence. It has been the lowest-denomination coin in general circulation since the withdrawal of the one-cent and two-cent coins in 1992.
The Australian ten-cent coin is a coin of the decimal Australian dollar. When the dollar was introduced as half of an Australian pound on 14 February 1966, the coin inherited the specifications of the pre-decimal shilling; both coins were worth one twentieth of a pound. On introduction it was the fourth-lowest denomination coin. Since the withdrawal from circulation of the one and two cent coins in 1992, it has been the second-lowest denomination coin in circulation.
The Australian two-dollar coin is the highest-denomination coin of the Australian dollar. It was first issued on 20 June 1988, having been in planning since the mid-1970s. It replaced the Australian two-dollar note due to having a longer circulatory life. The only "mint set only" year was 1991. The one-dollar and two-dollar coins are legal tender up to the sum of not exceeding 10 times the face value of the coin concerned.
The Australian fifty-dollar note is an Australian banknote with a face value of fifty Australian dollars (A$50). It is currently a polymer banknote, featuring portraits of David Unaipon and Edith Cowan.
The Australian twenty-dollar note was issued when the currency was changed from the Australian pound to the Australian dollar on 14 February 1966. It replaced the £10 note which had similar orange colouration. It is now Orange. There have been only three different issues of this denomination: a paper note which had a gradient of yellow and red, with a distinct orange background, and two designs of polymer note which can be recognised for their distinct red-orange colouration. The first polymer note was issued on 31 October 1994 and the Next Generation polymer banknote was issued on 9 October 2019.
The Australian ten-dollar note was issued when the currency was changed from the Australian pound to the Australian dollar on 14 February 1966; it replaced the £5 note which included the same blue colouration. There have been four different issues of this denomination, a paper banknote, a commemorative hipolymer note to celebrate the bicentennial of Australian settlement, the 1993-2017 polymer note, and from September 2017 a polymer note featuring a transparent window.
The Australian one hundred-dollar note was first issued in 1984 as a paper note. There have been two different issues of this denomination: initially a very light turquoise-blue paper note, and from May 1996, a green polymer note. Since the start of issue there have been six signature combinations. Two other combinations were not issued.
The cent, formally the one-cent coin, was the lowest-denomination coin of the Australian dollar. It was introduced on 14 February 1966 in the decimalisation of Australian currency and was withdrawn from circulation in 1992. It is still minted as a non-circulating coin.
The Australian two-cent coin was introduced in 1966 and was the coin of the second-lowest denomination until it was withdrawn from circulation in 1992. It is still counted as legal tender, but is subject to some restrictions, and one-cent and two-cent coins are legal tender only up to the sum of 20 cents.
The Australian five-dollar note was first issued on 29 May 1967, fifteen months after the currency was changed from the Australian pound to the Australian dollar on 14 February 1966. It was a new denomination with mauve colouration – the pound system had no £2½ note.
The Coins of the Australian pound arose when the Federation of Australia gave the constitutional power to Commonwealth of Australia to mint its own coinage in 1901. The new power allowed the Commonwealth to issue legal tender rather than individually through the six former British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia.
Coins of the Australian dollar were introduced on 14 February 1966, although they did not at that time include one-dollar or two-dollar coins. The dollar was equivalent in value to 10 shillings in the former currency.
The notes of the Australian dollar were first issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia on 14 February 1966, when Australia changed to decimal currency and replaced the pound with the dollar. This currency was a lot easier for calculating cost rather than the British pound, shilling and pence system.
This article concerns the coins of the New Zealand dollar.
Coins of the Australian dollar are circulated with different designs depicting various anniversaries or significant Australian events, these differing coin designs being labelled Australian commemorative coins. Typically, only the 20c, 50c and $1 coins have been minted in commemoration, however in 2012 a commemorative $2 coin was minted for Remembrance Day and in 2016 a 25c gold coin was minted for Anzac Day.
