AUSTRALIAN POUND

The 'pound' was the currency of Australia from 1910 to 1966.

Contents

History

Replacement by the dollar

Coins

Banknotes

See also

References

External link

History

Australia's first coinage was issued in 1813 by the colony of New South Wales by punching the middle out of Spanish dollars. This process created two parts: a small coin, which was called the ''dump'' in Australia, and a ring, which was called a ''Holey dollar''. One holey dollar was worth 5 shillings (one quarter of a pound sterling), and one dump was worth 1 shilling and three pence (or one quarter of a Holey dollar).
In 1852, the Government Assay Office in Adelaide issued gold pound coins. These weighed slightly more than sovereigns. From 1855, the Sydney mint issued half sovereigns and sovereigns, with the Melbourne mint beginning production in 1872. It should be noted that many of the sovereigns minted in Australia were for use in India.
In the lead-up to Federation, the currency used in the Australian colonies was the pound sterling, divided into 20 shillings, each of which was divided into 12 pence. British silver and copper coins circulated alongside Australian minted gold sovereigns (worth one pound) and half sovereigns, as well as locally minted copper trade tokens, until finally suppressed in 1881 some state earlier (Pitt 2000, pp.10-11). Banknotes were issued by private banks as well as certain colonial governments such as that of Queensland. Acceptance of private bank notes was not made compulsory by legal tender laws but they were widely used and accepted. Queensland treasury notes were also in circulation and these were legal tender in Queensland.
After Federation in 1901, the Australian government assumed the power to issue currency and began overprinting the private issues that were in circulation, in preparation for the issue of a domestic currency.
In 1910 the federal government passed the "Australian Notes Act" which prohibited the circulation of State notes. Also passed in that year was the "Bank Notes Tax Act" which imposed a tax of 10% per annum on "all bank notes issued or re-issued by any bank in the Commonwealth after the commencement of this Act, and not redeemed". Both these acts remain on the statute books and perpetuate the prohibition of private currencies in Australia.
Also in 1910 a national currency was introduced by the Labor Government of Prime Minister Andrew Fisher. The new national currency was called the Australian pound, consisting of 20 shillings, each consisting of 12 pence. Monetary policy ensured that the Australian pound was fixed in value to the pound sterling. As such Australia was on the Gold Standard so long as Britain was.
In 1919, the pound sterling was removed from the gold standard. When it was returned to the gold standard in 1926 the sudden increase in its value (imposed by the nominal gold price) unleashed crushing deflationary pressures. Both the initial 1919 inflation and the subsequent 1926 deflation had far-reaching economic effects throughout the British Empire, Australia and the world.
In January 1931, the Labor Government of Prime Minister James Scullin devalued the Australian pound by 25% against pound sterling as an emergency measure during the Great Depression. £1 sterling became worth £1 5s. Australian. While this devaluation no doubt removed some of the deflationary pressures introduced five years earlier it would still have been disruptive.
In 1949, when the United Kingdom devalued the pound sterling against the US dollar, Australian Prime Minister and Treasurer Ben Chifley followed suit so the Australian pound would not become over-valued in sterling zone countries with which Australia did most of its external trade at the time. As one pound sterling went from US$4.03 to US$2.8, one Australian pound went from US$3.224 to US$2.24^[1].

Replacement by the dollar

On February 14, 1966, a decimal currency known as the Australian dollar was introduced after years of planning. (February 2, 1963 had been initially planned as the date the new currency would be introduced, but this date passed with no fanfare as no progress on developing the new currency had been made at that time.) £1 became $2, ten shillings became $1, and one shilling became ten cents. Amounts less than a shilling were converted thus:

Pence	Accurate conversion	Actual conversion		Pence	Accurate conversion	Actual conversion
½d	¢	1¢		6½d	5¢	5¢
1d	¢	1¢		7d	5¢	6¢
1½d	1¢	1¢		7½d	6¢	6¢
2d	1¢	2¢		8d	6¢	7¢
2½d	2¢	2¢		8½d	7¢	7¢
3d	2¢	2¢		9d	7¢	8¢
3½d	2¢	3¢		9½d	7¢	8¢
4d	3¢	3¢		10d	8¢	8¢
4½d	3¢	4¢		10½d	8¢	9¢
5d	4¢	4¢		11d	9¢	9¢
5½d	4¢	5¢		11½d	9¢	9¢
6d	5¢	5¢		12d	1 s = 10¢	1 s = 10¢

In 1967 the Australian dollar effectively left the sterling area for the first time. When sterling devalued in 1967 against the US dollar, the new Australian dollar did not follow. It maintained its peg to the US dollar at the same rate.

Coins

Main articles: Coins of the Australian pound

In 1855, gold ½ and 1 sovereigns were first minted by the Sydney mint. These coins were the only denominations issued by the Australian mints until after Federation.
In 1910, .925 fineness sterling silver coins in denominations of 3 and 6 pence, 1 and 2 shillings (florin). Unlike in the United Kingdom, no half crowns were issued. Bronze ½ and 1 penny coins followed in 1911. Production of ½ sovereigns ceased in 1916, followed by that of sovereigns in 1931. In 1937 a five shilling piece was issued to commemorate the coronation of King George VI. This coin proved unpopular and was discontinued shortly after being reissued in 1938.
In 1947, the fineness of the silver coins was reduced to .500 but, unlike New Zealand and the United Kingdom, silver coins continued to be issued until after decimalization.

Banknotes

The first issue were overprinted banknotes of the various banks issued between 1910-1914 for 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 pounds. They were overprinted with ''Australian note''.
In 1913 the first national banknotes were introduced in denominations of 10 shillings, and 1, 5, and 10 pounds. 1914 saw the introduction of 20, 50, 100, and 1000 pound notes. The 1000 pound note only saw limited circulation and was later confined to inter-bank use. There are no uncancelled examples of this note known to exist in private hands. There was also a never-issued 5 shilling note around this time frame.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has an example featured on their timeline [1].
In the mid-1920s a modified 10 shilling (worded as "Half Sovereign"), and reduced-size 1, 5 and 10 pound notes were issued with the side profile of King George V on the face. These notes still referred to the currency's convertibility to gold on demand. A newer 1000 pound note with the profile of George V was also prepared but never issued. An unissued printer's trial of this note was discovered in London in 1996 and subsequently sold for a sum in excess of 200,000 Australian dollars. Nonetheless, this note is not recognised as a legitimate Australian banknote issue.
During the Great Depression Australian currency ceased to be redeemable for gold at the previously maintained rate of one gold sovereign for one pound currency. Subsequently a new series of Legal Tender notes were designed, once again bearing the portrait of King George V, in denominations of 10 shillings and 1, 5 and 10 pounds. These denominations and designs were maintained and modified to accommodate the portrait of King George VI in 1938.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 saw the issue of a new portrait series of prominent persons in Australia's history.

★ 10s – Matthew Flinders

★ £1 – Queen Elizabeth II

★ £5 – John Franklin

★ £10 – Arthur Phillip

★ £50 - Henry Parkes (This note was never issued to the public. A few specimens exist in private hands and are worth a great deal to collectors.)
Unissued notes that were printed but never issued for circulation include 2 different 5 shillings, a 1916 with stock destroyed in 1936, and a 1946, stock destroyed in 1953. Both were printed with the reigning king's portrait. Two fifty pound notes were designed, one from 1939 with King George VI and a 1951 as stated above. Both stocks of the £50 note were destroyed in 1958. A 1939 £100 also exist with a brown, green and pink colouration, with stock destroyed in 1958 as well. The last unissued note was a £1,000, with specimens arriving in 1923 and kept till 1928 after a decision not to use the denomination any further.
The reserve bank holds specimens of all the stated banknote denominations.^[2]

See also

★ Australian dollar

References

1. Historical rates derived from Tables of modern monetary history: Australia, Tables of modern monetary history: Asia (India's section), and Foreign Currency Units per 1 U.S. dollar, 1948-2005, PACIFIC Exchange Rate Service. Each source may contradict one another. The rates above is the "most plausible fact" derived from these web pages.
2. Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values, , , , Renniks Publications, 2000, ISBN 0-9585574-4-6


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External link

★ Cruzi's Coins

★ Commonwealth Pre-Decimal Currency