Coins of Australia

During the early days of the colonies that formed Australia, foreign as well as British currency was used, but in 1910, a decade after federation, Australian coins were introduced.

Australia used pounds, shillings and pence until 1966, when it adopted the decimal system with the Australian dollar divided into 100 cents.

For many years after the first Australian colony, New South Wales (NSW), was founded in 1788, it did not have its own currency and had to rely on the coins of other countries.

During the early days of the colony, commodities such as wheat were sometimes used as a currency because of the shortage of coins.

Under the decree of 19 November 1800 by the governor Philip Gidley King, the following eleven coins were legal tender for the exchange value of: The settlers did have some George III one-penny coins, which were referred to as "Cartwheel pennies".

He was worried that the coins would quickly be exported out of the colony and had holes cut in the middle of them to try to keep them in Australia.

The most notable Holey Dollar was the "Hannibal Head" a one of a kind coin that features the portrait of King Joseph I of Spain.