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The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD; also abbreviated A$ or sometimes AU$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; [2] [3] and also referred to as the dollar or Aussie dollar) is the official currency and legal tender of Australia, including all of its external territories, and three independent sovereign Pacific Island states: Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu.
The notes of the Australian dollar were first issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia on 14 February 1966, when Australia changed to decimal currency and replaced the pound with the dollar. [1] This currency was a lot easier for calculating compared to the previous Australian pound worth 20 shillings or 240 pence.
The one-dollar coin was introduced in 1984, to replace the banknote of the same value. The two-dollar coin, also replacing a banknote, was introduced in 1988. They have content of 2% nickel, 6% aluminium and 92% copper. The two-dollar coin is smaller in diameter than the one-dollar coin, but the two-dollar is slightly thicker.
British currency became the official currency of the Australian colonies after 1825, with almost £100,000-worth of British coins being imported during 1824–25. The Holey dollar was no longer legal tender after 1829. The most notable Holey Dollar was the "Hannibal Head" a one of a kind coin that features the portrait of King Joseph I of Spain ...
The twelve-sided Australian fifty-cent coin is the third-highest denomination coin of the Australian dollar and the largest in terms of size in circulation. It is equal in size and shape to the Cook Island $5 coin , and both remain the only 12-sided coins in the southern hemisphere.
When Australia was part of the fixed-exchange sterling area, the exchange rate of the Australian dollar was fixed to the pound sterling at a rate of A$1 = 8 U.K. shillings (A$2.50 = UK£1). In 1967, Australia effectively left the sterling area, when the pound sterling was devalued against the US dollar and the Australian dollar did not follow.
The Australian fifty-dollar note is an Australian banknote with a face value of fifty Australian dollars ($50). Since 1995 it has been a polymer banknote featuring portraits of Edith Cowan , first female member of an Australian parliament, and inventor and Australia's first published Aboriginal Australian author, David Unaipon .
It was first issued on 14 May 1984 [4] to replace the one-dollar note which was then in circulation, although plans to introduce a dollar coin had existed since the mid-1970s. [4] The first year of minting saw 186.3 million of the coins produced at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra .