The Australian one-dollar coin is the second most valuable circulation denomination coin of the

Australian dollar The Australian dollar (currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: AUD; also abbreviated A$ or sometimes AU$ to distinguish it from other dollar, dollar-denominated currencies; and also referred to as the dollar or Aussie dollar) is the official ...

after the two-dollar coin; there are also non-circulating legal-tender coins of higher denominations (five-, ten-, and two-hundred-dollar coins). It was first issued on 14 May 1984 to replace the one-dollar note which was then in circulation, although plans to introduce a dollar coin had existed since the mid-1970s. The first year of minting saw 186.3 million of the coins produced at the Royal Australian Mint in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. Four portraits of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

have featured on the obverse, the 1984 head of Queen Elizabeth II by

Arnold Machin Arnold Machin OBE RA FRSS (; 30 September 1911 – 9 March 1999) was a British artist, sculptor, and coin and postage stamp designer. Biography Machin was born Stoke-on-Trent in 1911. He started work at the age of 14 as an apprentice china ...

; between 1985 and 1998, the head by

Raphael Maklouf Raphael David Maklouf (born 10 December 1937) is a British sculptor, best known for designing an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II used on the coins of many Commonwealth nations. Maklouf was born in Jerusalem, to a Jewish family; his father was Sa ...

; between 1999 and 2009, the head by Ian Rank-Broadley; and since 2019, the effigy of Elizabeth II by artist Jody Clark has been released into circulation. The coin features an inscription on its obverse of AUSTRALIA on the right-hand side and ELIZABETH II on the left-hand side. One-dollar coins bearing the portrait of King

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

entered circulation in December 2023. The reverse features five

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

s. The image was designed by

Stuart Devlin Stuart Leslie Devlin (9 October 1931 – 12 April 2018) was an Australian artist and metalworker who specialised in gold and silver. He designed coins for countries around the world, and became especially well known as London-based design ...

, who designed Australia's first decimal coins in 1966. The one-dollar denomination was only issued in coin sets in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, and finally 2012. No one-dollar coin with any mint mark was ever released for circulation; any dollars found with such mark comes for a card. $1 coins are legal tender for amounts not exceeding 10 times the face value of the coin for any payment of a debt.

Commemorative issue

The Royal Australian Mint has released a number of commemorative issued coins since the Australian $1 was released in 1984, some of which were not released into circulation.

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Australian Decimal Currency

Australian Coins: Type Collecting

Coins from Australia / Coin Type: One Dollar - Online Coin Club
{{Australian currency Currencies introduced in 1984 Decimal coins of Australia One-base-unit coins

Commemorative issue

See also

References

Citations

Sources

External links