It's been two months since I've arrived in Australia and I
still find it hard to distinguish between the 20-cent and 50-cent coins! I
thought I should share some interesting facts about the Australian currency:
- When European settlers first arrived in Australia, a barter system, including rum, was used as currency instead of money.
- Till 1963, Australia used the “Australian Pound” as its main currency. More than 1,000 entries were made to name the new currency, including the Royal, Roo and Kanga, before Dollar’was chosen.
- In 1988, Australia invented "plastic" money, replacing its paper notes with polymer notes to combat counterfeiting. In 1996, Australia became the first country in the world to have a complete series of polymer notes.
- Australia prints polymer notes for more than 15 other countries, including Bangladesh, Brunei, Chile, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Western Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
- Highlighting its diverse wildlife, Australia’s coins feature the only two mammals in the world to lay eggs. The 20-cent coin features the platypus, while the 5 cent coin the echidna.
- As of early 2013, The Australian dollar was the fifth most traded currency in the world.
- Defacing or destroying current coins or current paper money is technically punishable by law and carries fines of upwards of $5,000 or 2 years in prison.
Source: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (http://www.dfat.gov.au/),
BigPondMoney (http://www.bigpondmoney.com.au/)
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