Australian Coins

The Australian 50 cent coin has a 12-sided shape and is one of the largest circulated coins in the world today, next only to the crown.

50 cent, 2003

This coin has a theme of Australia's volunteers. The reverse shows an artwork of the volunteers from Australia in various fields.

50 cent, 2006

The reverse shows the Australian coat of arms, which includes the emu, the second largest bird in the world, which is flightless like many other birds in Australia and New Zealand. Also shown is the kangaroo, a large marsupial which happens to be the national animal of Australia. And in between the two is a shield.

50 cent, 2005: world war II

This is a commemorative 50 cent coin of Australia. The world war started in 1939 and 1945. This coin was minted in 2005, so it means its remembrance of the event, on the occasion of 60 years of the ending of the war. The coin is in remembrance, an ode to those who lost their lives in the catastrophic event which is known as world war II. Some people might say that Australia was not among one of the Axis or the Allied powers, but then they forget that Australia was a part of England in the second world war.

Australian cents

5 cent, 1968
5 cent, 2007

The reverse shows the spiny anteater, also known as an Echidna. The echidna has a small tail and a narrow beak. There are short-beaked echidnas and long-beaked echidnas. The mouth is toothless and very tiny. The body is heavy and round. Everywhere except the belly, it is covered with coarse hairs and short, pointy spines. (They're very different than the spines on a porcupine!) Each foot has five toes with strong claws. On each hind foot there is an extra long, curved claw on the second toe; the echidna uses this claw to clean between its spines.

The spiny anteater is an nocturnal animal. He becomes active at twilight and spends the rest of the night digging out ants and termites which he pulls in with his long, sticky tongue. His vision is weak, but he has a strong sense of smell and sharp hearing. The echidna can go without food for long periods of time. When threatened, the echidna can quickly roll into a prickly ball for protection.

10 cent, 1980

10 cent, 2007

What may seem like a creative design on first glance, is actually the superb lyrebird of Australia, as shown on the reverse of this 10 cent coin.

The lyrebird is another anomalic ancient creature of Australia with few close relatives. We have the Albert's lyrebird and the superb lyrebird, which is shown on the coin above. Both are known for their song, and it is the superb lyrebird which is well known for its songs, which are composed primarily of variegated mimicry. It can mimic voices of other birds and other natural sounds including flight calls of parrots and wing beats of large birds.

The lyrebirds being flightless, face predation from non-native dogs and feral cats. There is a need to protect them and their habitat.

20 cent, 1980

20 cent, 1997
20 cent, 1998

20 cent, 2001

The 20 cent coin has the platypus on the reverse. The duck billed platypus is the only egg laying mammal, an anomaly that has somehow survived all these years in the isolated location of Australia, like many other unique creatures like emu, kangaroo, marsupial lion, moa etc that are or were found in Australia and New Zealand. The platypus is the oldest mammal which is not yet extinct, and can be called a living fossil. The obverse shows queen Elizabeth.