All About The Coins of Australia
Their Stories and How to Collect Them
by
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Returning to the main topic: there were no 1965 coins and then decimal currency was introduced in 1966. That year six new denominations were minted in huge numbers after an elaborate publicity campaign and delivered all over Australia in what turned out to be a complex but highly successful operation. ‘Operation Fastbuck.’ Buck?? The choice of a name for our new currency was not unanimous. Ignoring history, which confirms that no government has ever taken the slightest notice of the results of public polls, they launched a naming competition. At least ‘buck’ didn’t make the short list, but the following did. ‘Oz’ had a nice simplicity about it, while ‘dinkum’, ‘digger’, ‘boomer’, ‘kanga’ or ‘roo’ would have provided a subtle clue as to which country’s currency was being traded internationally. ‘Austral’ might just have worked, but we only narrowly averted a far worse disaster. We would now be doing our shopping in ‘royals’ if devoted monarchist Prime Minister Bob (‘I did but see her passing by’…ouch) Menzies had got his way. Menzies’ majestic choice made it far enough through parliamentary process for it to require a massive public outcry, complete with death threats to his wife, for the treasurer of the day to retreat into the safe, if unadventurous, current title. The quest is not over yet: one sportsman with a novel if not entirely convincing approach to reinvigorating our economy has put in his dinkum’s worth by persuading thousands to endorse a petition to rename our currency the ‘dollarydoo’. I think I like that. But for the time being dollar it stays. Each denomination in circulation at the time has been minted every year from 1966, with the sole exceptions of 1967 and 1968, when 50c coins were temporarily suspended pending a redesign. Although minted every year, not all denominations are released each year for circulation.
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About the Book
This is a book that should appeal to the general reader who wants to know more about Australia’s coinage and its fascinating history. It deals with its subject in an informal and topical way without too much technical jargon or irrelevant detail. There is an emphasis on advice for amateur coin collectors and anyone thinking of starting a collection. Along the way, you will come across some odd facts and interesting byways, together with stories and anecdotal information covering a wide spectrum of special, unusual, and historical types of coinage. Those may be less likely to find their way into the average household collection, but there is a full guide to the coins that you will want as a home collector, supplemented by lists and catalogues that will be useful for checking if anything is missing. At the end, there is a colored virtual album.
About the Author
David Miller started collecting coins at the age of 2½ – or was it 12½? – he can’t remember exactly. When he was not learning about and collecting coins he was running a medical practice, looking after patients with kidney disease, teaching and writing, but by then he was a bit older. Each occupation provided a welcome diversion from the others. These days he lives by the beach, where he wastes his time watching sunsets, surfers, dolphins and whales – and collecting coins. If the earth were flat he would have a distant view of Antarctica.