International > Commonwealth of Australia > Australian Dollar > Commemorative

Commemorative coins

Many special coins have been produced, with imagery representing an event replacing the usual design on the reverse side of the coin. For some years, all the coins are replaced with a different design for that year. In other cases, only a few coins have the new design, which are released as special commemorative coins, although many usually end up in circulation. Because of their larger size, it is usually the 50c, 20c and $1 that have new designs; the $2, 10c and 5c are rarely changed. The commemorative coins include:

• 1970 50c Captain Cook Bicentenary, mintage: 16,548,000
• 1977 50c Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee, mintage: 25,067,000
• 1981 50c Charles & Diana Royal Wedding, mintage: 20,000,000
• 1982 50c XII Commonwealth Games, held in Brisbane, mintage: 49,610,200
• 1986 $1 International Year of Peace, mintage: 25,100,000
• 1988 50c, First Fleet Bicentenary 1788-1988, mintage: 8,100,000 (rare)
• 1988 $1, First Fleet Bicentenary, Aboriginal design, mintage: 20,400,000
• 1991 50c 25th Anniversary of Decimal Currency (Merino ram's head), mintage: 4,700,000 (rare)
• 1992 $1 Barcelona Olympics, mintage: unknown
• 1993 $1 Landcare Australia, mintage: 15,000,000
• 1994 50c Year of the Family, mintage: 20,876,100
• 1994 $1 Dollar Decade 1984-1994, mintage: unknown
• 1995 20c 50th Anniversary of the United Nations, mintage: 4,835,000
• 1995 50c End of World War II 50th Anniversary, Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop, mintage: 15,869,200
• 1995 $1 Waltzing Matilda, mintage: unknown
• 1996 $1 Sir Henry Parkes Centenary, mintage: 26,200,000
• 1997 $1 Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Birth Centenary, mintage: 24,381,000
• 1998 50c Bass and Flinders Anniversary, discovery of Bass Strait, mintage: 22,389,200
• 1998 $1 Howard Florey (Only proof and mint packs), mintage: unknown
• 1999 $1 International Year of Older Persons, mintage: 29,218,000
• 2000 50c Millennium Year 2000, mintage: 16,630,000
• 2000 50c Year 2000 Royal Visit, mintage: 5,145,000
• 2001 20c Sir Donald Bradman Tribute, mintage: 10,000,000
• 2001 20c Centenary of Federation coins for each of the 9 states, territories and regions, mintage (total of all coins): unknown
• 2001 50c Centenary of Federation coins for each of the 9 states, territories and regions plus one for Australia, mintage (total of all coins): 64,271,600
• 2001 $1 Centenary of Federation, mintage: 27,905,390
• 2001 $1 International Year of Volunteers, mintage: 6,000,000 (rare)
• 2002 50c Year of the Outback, mintage: 11,507,000
• 2002 $1 Year of the Outback, mintage: 35,373,000
• 2003 20c Australia's Volunteers, mintage: 7,574,000
• 2003 50c Australia's Volunteers, mintage: 8,202,000
• 2003 $1 Australia's Volunteers, mintage: 4,149,000
• 2003 $1 Centenary of Women's Suffrage, mintage: 10,007,000 (rare)
• 2004 50c 2004 Student Design Australia - Animals, with wombat, koala and lorikeet, mintage: 10,577,000
• 2005 20c End of World War II 60th Anniversary, mintage: 10,000,000
• 2005 50c End of World War II 60th Anniversary, mintage: 10,000,000
• 2005 $1 End of World War II 60th Anniversary, mintage: unknown
• 2005 50c 2005 Student Design Commonwealth Games, mintage: 21,000,000
• 2006 $1 50th Anniversary of Television, mintage: unknown
• 2007 $1 75th Anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, mintage: unknown
• 2007 $1 APEC Australia 2007, mintage: unknown

The Royal Australian Mint regularly releases collectible coins, one of the most famous of which is the gold two hundred dollar coin. Australian collectible coins are all legal tender^[1] and can be used directly as currency or converted to "normal" coinage at a bank. Metals include aluminium bronze, silver, gold and bi-metal coins (Pitt, 2000 pp.90-100). Nugget coins are issued in ounces and fractions or kilograms and come in gold and platinum, some are denominated in dollars others only their weight value (Pitt, 2000 pp. 101-109).