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TRANSCRIPT
"Australia changes her currency. Pounds and shillings are out, and dollars and cents are in."
It's the 14th of February, 1966 - and Australians have woken up to a new way of counting money.
"They're 40c a dozen what do I do? Oh gran, you can pay in shillings and pence, or dollars and cents - one kind of money is as good as the other."
The changeover - one of the largest financial transitions in the nation’s history.
But it took a massive effort to get there - Including the help of a certain jingle.
"In come the dollars, in come the cents to replace the pound, shillings and pence."
"The government embarked on a national public education campaign. They rolled out television ads, radio. There was education in schools, special education for banks and shops, and it was really successful."
Emily Martin is the CEO of the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra – where the coins are made.
She says it wasn’t just a move that aligned us with much of the world, but also helped simplify trade and everyday transactions.
"There was a lot of calculations that people had to make to understand how many shillings were in a pound and pence in a shilling, and it was a very complex system."
She also says it’s an opportunity to help tell the nation’s story through metal.
And six decades on, the Royal Australian Mint continues to preserve that history.
"We educate visitors, international tourists, school groups, this wonderful place that people can come and learn about our currency and the stories that we tell through our coins."
It’s also home to the National Coin Collection – which contains more than 15-thousand items – from early colonial currency and rare proof coins, to the very designs that marked Decimal Day.
Those were the brainchild of artist and metalworker Stuart Devlin – who went on to become Queen Elizabeth the Second’s jeweller.
Mr Devlin had won a competition in 1964 – beating five other competitors – to develop the artworks for the new coins…. Which introduced a distinctly Australian look.
The now-defunct one and two cent pieces featured a feathertail glider and frill-necked lizard.
Even the 12-sided 50 cent coin made a statement. Originally it was round, and made from silver in 1966 – before changing shape, to prevent confusion with the 20 cent piece.
It carries Australia’s coat of arms.
The Royal Australian Mint's Director Museum and Public Engagement Stuart Baines says the National Coin Collection also holds coins from over 100 countries.
"It's not just Australian coins and it's not just post decimal, the coins we have made. One of our prized pieces is the holey dollar, which was made from the Spanish. These coins were our first official currency and they really were a symbol that we wanted to grow as a nation. We didn't have a mint in this country at the time, so we of course employed a convict who had served his time in Australia for forgery and he actually was the one who struck our first coins. So there's lots of little stories that these coins can tell us about who we are and where we've come from and how we grow and change as a nation."
That includes stories about all segments of Australian society.
Which Mr Baines says the Mint has been committed to telling through special release coins in the decades since decimal currency was introduced.
"We do have a lot of different coins that celebrate all aspects of our life. We create coins around Paralympics and that celebrate different migrating groups to Australia and different cultures within Australia."
While there’s been a sharp decline in the use of cash and coins over the years, Emily Martin says commemorative and collectible series are popular as ever.
And says the future of coins remains bright.
"There has been a decline in the use of circulating coins but we have seen that desire for our collectible coins really grow and the average new generations of collectors so it is a way that people like to recognise special events and tell our history through our coins. We will continue to make coins as long as there is demand."
