2016-02-01 Mon

It’s time to bid farewell to the Australian five-cent as it is dying a natural death. Almost 50 years back, on 14th February 1966, Australia’s pounds, shillings and pence were replaced with dollars and cents.

With rising inflation, low-denomination notes like one-dollar note and the two-dollar bills became coins and low-denomination coins like one and two-cent coins were ruthlessly wiped out of Australian currency.

Decimal currency was introduced half a century ago and the chief executive of the Royal Australian Mint, Ross MacDiarmid, has sadly indicated that five-cent coins will also have to bid adieu. With increasing inflation and the advancement of technology to enable cashless transactions, the demand for five-cent pieces over the past 5 years has halved.

“Almost 50 years ago, on 14 February, Australians took a step towards a more united country featuring typically Australian designs on all of our coins, and so the Royal Australian Mint wants to capture this moment and celebrate with the public,” Ross MacDiarmid said.

The mint will soon make round, gold-plated 50-cent coins, as part of the celebrations before a possible permanent shift to a round design.