The Australian two-cent coin was introduced in 1966 and was the coin of the second-lowest denomination until it was withdrawn from circulation in 1992 (along with the one-cent piece). It is still counted as legal tender, but is subject to some restrictions, and two-cent coins are legal tender only up to the sum of 20 cents. A two-cent coin in 1966 would have a purchasing power equal to about 30c in 2022 values.

History

The coin entered circulation on 14 February 1966. In its first year of minting the coin was manufactured at three different mints: 145.2 million at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra, 66.6 million at the Melbourne Mint and 217.7 million at the

Perth Mint The Perth Mint is Australia's official bullion mint and wholly owned by the Government of Western Australia. Established on 20 June 1899, two years before Australia's Federation in 1901, the Perth Mint was the last of three Australian colonia ...

. The only year that the coins were minted outside Australia was 1981, when 70.8 million were struck at the British

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's official maker of British coins. It is currently located in Llantrisant, Wales, where it moved in 1968. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly ow ...

Llantrisant Llantrisant (; "Parish of the Three Saints") is a town and community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The three saints of the t ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, in addition to 97.4 million from Canberra and 81.8 million from Perth. No two-cent coins were struck in 1986 or 1987 and the last year of minting was 1989. From 1966 until 1984 the obverse featured the portrait 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. ...

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 ...

. It was changed in 1985 to a version 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 ...

, which remained until its withdrawal from circulation in 1992. The 2c was only minted for coin sets in the following years: 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, and finally, 2006. The decision to remove it was confirmed in the Treasurer's budget speech of 21 August 1990. The removal was due to

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

reducing its value, and the high cost of bronze. Around the same time other countries removed their bronze coins—New Zealand removed its one and two cent coins in 1990, while the United Kingdom and Ireland replaced their bronze one and two pence coins with copper-plated steel coins. After removal from circulation, some of the coins were melted down to make

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

s for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

in Sydney, Australia.Press Release from the Royal Australian Mint
7 June 2000,

Features

The reverse side of the coin features the image of a frill-necked lizard (''Chlamydosaurus kingii''), a reptile native to northern Australia and southern

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. 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 the reverses of all Australian decimal coins introduced in 1966.

References

Sources

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Prospect Stamps and Coins
Decimal coins of Australia Two-cent coins {{australia-stub