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Australia 50 Yrs Decimal Currency

2016  Five Cent reverse 2016  Five Cent obverse

2016 Five Cent

Size:19mm Weight:0g

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In 2016 the Royal Australian Mint released a full set of six pieces to commemorate fifty years since the introduction of decimal currency in Australia. The obverse of each of these pieces includes an internal Australian pre-decimal coin design underneath an Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II. This five cent piece includes the Kangaroo design that was used on Australian Pennies, this internal coin features the legend "AUSTRALIA". The actual obverse legend states "ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2016 FIFTY YEARS". The reverse features the standard Stuart Devlin echidna design.

The Australian pound came into being in 1910 and lasted until 1966. The currency was awkward, with each pound being subdivided into 20 shillings each of 12 pence. In the 1950s the economic importance of switching to a decimal currency became heavily discussed. The key argument was that the pound made financial transactions unnecessarily difficult, it was calculated that this difficulty caused the loss of more than �11 million to the Australian economy every year. (National Museum of Australia, 2016) After much political debate the 14th of February 1966 was chosen as Changeover Day - when the new Australian decimal dollar took over.

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