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Australia Year of the Family

1994 Wide Date Fifty Cent

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The Year of the Family 1994 commemorative fifty cent was issued to commemorate the international event. The reverse was designed by Carolyn Rosser and shows her depiction of a child's drawing of her family and their pet. It has the legend AUSTRALIA 1994 along with the denomination 50 cents. The obverse features the Raphael Maklouf portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II, right-facing, crowned with necklace and earrings. It contains the legend ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 1994. It has been discovered that this coin was issued in a wide and narrow date variety. They can be differentiated by examining the date (1994) in the legend and comparing the spacing of the numbers (see images below).

Wide-date variety of the 1994 Fifty Cent (Year of the Family) piece.

Narrow date variety of the 1994 Fifty Cent (Year of the Family) piece.

The International Year of the Family was promoted by the united Nations to promote Families in the development process. The idea was controversial in its infancy as some thought that it alienates single people. Irrespective of the debate, the Year of the Family went ahead and the result being that there is now a realization that society is a structure made up of families and is therefore of huge importance. The UN produced a list of the fundamental key issues for discussion as follows.

1 - The family's role in the moral strength of society, through the socialisation of children and the responsibilities of caring. 2 - The family's caring functions, both as its own social welfare safety net and as the main 'welfare' institution in society. In this regard, all social welfare strategies should focus on strengthening families, not on making or keeping them dependent; all programs and social policies should be designed to enable people to do things, rather than doing things for people, to enhance their ability to solve problems. 3 - Balancing individual freedoms with a sense of personal responsibility for families, community and nation. 4 - Helping women and men combine family and vocational responsibilities. 5 - Developing policies based on an accurate assessment of dominant and newly emerging family patterns and models, and of the support functions they are actually performing or capable of. 6 - Better integration of services. 7 - Family planning. 8 - Family violence and the need for protection and prevention. 9 - The crucial role of non-government organisations in family support. 10. The developmental dimension of families as agents of change, especially in relation to improving their living environment. 11 - The role of the family in teaching children values and behaviour that exemplify the equitable sharing of male and female roles (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2013) .