Commemorative coins of Australia

Coins of the Australian dollar are circulated with different designs depicting various anniversaries or significant Australian events, these differing coin designs being labelled Australian commemorative coins. Typically, only the 20c, 50c, $1 and $2 coins have been minted in commemoration.

2 dollar coin

Australia's first commemorative $2 coin was released in 2012 to commemorate Remembrance Day. It features a poppy in the centre on a background of microtext, reading: "remembrance day" and "lest we forget".^[1] As Canada also has coloured circulating coins, Australia is now the second country to do so.^[2]

Year Issued	Commemorative Subject	Total in set	Reverse Designer^[3]	Reverse Design	Mintage Figures^[3]
2012	Remembrance Day – Red Poppy	1	Aaron Baggio	Coloured red poppy centre on microtext background.	503,000^[4]
	Remembrance Day – Gold Poppy	1	Aaron Baggio	Non-coloured poppy centre on microtext background.	5,799,000^[4]
2013	60th Anniversary of the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia	1	Aleksandra Stokic	Concentric purple stripes and a central design feature of St Edward's Crown.	995,000^[4]
2014	Remembrance Day – Dove	1	Royal Australian Mint	Designed to commemorate Remembrance Day with a dove and olive branch surrounded by concentric green circles and rays of sunlight. It was inspired by the Rising Sun badge.	1,856,000^[5]
2015	ANZAC Cove – Lest We Forget	1	Aleksandra Stokic	Designed to commemorate 100 years since the ANZAC Cove landing. Poppies and graves surround a red concentric circle encapsulating the words "Lest We Forget".	1,466,000^[5]^[6]
	Flanders Field	1	Aleksandra Stokic^[7]	Designed to commemorate the poem In Flanders Fields. Sculpted larks surrounding the orange coloured rings representing the sunset glow.	2,151,000^[6]
2016	50th anniversary of decimal currency	1	G. K. Gray^[8]	2016 obverse design to celebrate the 50th anniversary of decimal currency.	2,885,000^[6]^[9]^[10]
	Australian Olympic Team	6	Bronwyn King^[11]	Released in partnership with Woolworths. Six versions were released, featuring the emblem of the Australian Olympic team with the various coin colours; blue, black, red, yellow, green, as well as a Paralympics coin.	12,000,000 (2,000,000 of each)^[12]
2017	War Memorial Dome – Lest We Forget	1	Tony Dean^[13]	Depiction of Napier Waller's mosaic from the Australian War Memorial's Hall of Memory.	3,975,000^[9]^[10]
	Remembrance Day – Rosemary Sprig	1	Aleksandra Stokic^[14]	Designed to commemorate Remembrance Day. Inner circle containing rosemary, surrounded by circle of pad printed rosemary leaves and flowers in green and purple. The word "Remembrance" is intertwined through the rosemary leaves.	2,122,000^[10]
	Possum Magic	3		Three Possum Magic coins minted; 'Sad, invisible Hush', 'Hush sees her tail' and 'Hush visible again'.
2018	Eternal Flame – Lest We Forget	1	Bronwyn King^[15]	Depiction of the eternal flame from the Australian War Memorial.	5,400,000^[10]^[16]
	Invictus Games	1	Aleksandra Stokic (initials on coin)	Commemorating the 2018 Invictus Games, hosted in Sydney, Australia. Depicts the side view of an athlete in a wheelchair.	2,100,000^[16]^[17]
	Armistice	1	Tony Dean (initials on coin)^[18]	Designed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Depicts the number 100 with a poppy in the middle zero.	1,658,000^[16]^[17]
	Australian Commonwealth Games Team	3		Emblem of the Australian Commonwealth Games team and their blue, green and gold colours.
2019	Centenary of Repatriation	1	Adam William Ball (initials on coin)	Old style Australian Defence Force badge surrounded by poppy pettles. The words "ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF REPATRIATION" surround the design.	2,127,000^[16]^[17]
	Police Remembrance	1	Adam William Ball (initials on coin)	Standardised seven-pointed star police badge with inner circle depicting a crown surrounded by ring of blue and white checkered tape.	2,000,000^[16]
	Rugby Union	1		Colourised green and gold ring surrounding a wallaby holding a ball with "Wallabies Australia" on the outside.
	Mr Squiggle	4		Four coins minted featuring 'Mr Squiggle', 'Bill the Steam Shovel', 'Gus the Snail' and 'Blackboard'.
2020	Australian Olympic Team	6		Emblem of the Australian Olympic team and their blue, green, gold, red and black colours and an additional coin for the Paralympics.
	ICC Women's T20 World Cup	1	Royal Australian Mint^[19]	Released in partnership with Woolworths. Designed to commemorate the hosting of 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia. Depicts a female cricketer in front of stumps, surrounded by a coloured circle.	2,182,000^[17]
	Anniversary of the End of World War II	1	Tony Dean (initials on coin)	Designed to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the End of World War II. A tri-coloured circle of green, blue and white representing the three armed forces involved in WWII is superimposed over a peace dove flying over a part of the globe with Australia visible on the bottom.	600,000^[20]
	Firefighters	1	Aleksandra Stokic (initials on coin)	Depicts a male and female firefighter standing back to back fighting a fire. An orange coloured ball of flame is superimposed in the centre. The word "FIREFIGHTERS" is placed at the bottom.	1,600,000^[20]
2021	Indigenous Military Service	1	Chern’ee Sutton^[21]	The inner circle features a black handprint and is surrounded by three rows of dots in the colours of the Defense Forces Tri-Service Flag. The outer circle contains various Aboriginal objects such as spears.	1,000,000
	The Wiggles	4		30th anniversary of the Wiggles. Four coins; 'Captain Feathersword', 'Wags the Dog', 'Henry the Octopus' and 'Dorothy the Dinosaur'.
	Ambulance Services	1	Aaron Baggio^[22]	The coin honours the 33,000 paramedics who worked in the various ambulance services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. Depicts a male and female paramedic attending a patient on a stretcher. A green ring in the middle contains the Maltese cross.
	Aboriginal Flag	1	Harold Thomas^[23]	Designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Australian Aboriginal Flag.	2,000,000
2022	Australian Frontline Workers	1	Adam William Ball^[24]	Designed to honour frontline workers who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. A ring of 12 pictograms of frontline workers are depicted on the coin.
	Honey Bee	1	Aleksandra Stokic	Two honey bees sit on a sphere with honeycomb shapes on the surface, surrounded by flowers and branches from a wattle tree.

1 dollar coin

Not all years have issues for circulation with 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 2012 only in mintpacks. Issue 1984, 1985, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008 are the only issue with the Kangaroo portrait, however, the 2007 $1 with the kangaroo was also minted, but only for mint sets.

Year Issued	Commemorative subject	Reverse designer	Reverse design	Mintage Figures^[25]^[26]^[27]
1986	International Year of Peace	Horst Hahne	Hands holding a dove	25,100,000
1988	First Fleet Bicentenary (200 years since English colonisation)	Stuart Devlin	Aboriginal design of a Koori Kangaroo	20,400,000
1993	Landcare Australia	Vladimir Gottwald	Wavy lines and hands shaping Australia	15,000,000
1996	Sir Henry Parkes Centenary	Wojciech Pietranik	Portrait of Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), "Father of Federation"	26,200,000
1997	Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Birth Centenary (coin B)	Wojciech Pietranik	Portrait of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith (1897–1935) and plane	24,381,000
1999	International Year of Older Persons	Wojciech Pietranik	International Year of Older Persons logo "towards a society for all ages"	29,218,000
2001	Centenary of Federation	Wojciech Pietranik	Centenary of Federation logo	27,905,390
	International Year of the Volunteer	Wojciech Pietranik	International year of volunteers logo	6,000,000
2002	Year of the Outback	Wojciech Pietranik	Year of Outback logo	35,373,000
2003	Australia's Volunteers	Wojciech Pietranik	Stylised spiral roll symbolising the shape of the outline of Australia	4,149,000
	Centenary of Women's Suffrage	Vladimir Gottwald	Representation of the female figures in the suffrage banner by Dora Meeson Coates	10,007,000
2005	60th anniversary of the end of World War II	Wojciech Pietranik	The Dancing Man	34,200,000
2007	APEC Australia 2007	Wojciech Pietranik	Logo/Symbol of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum made up of a 7 pointed star itself made from 21 boomerangs	20,100,000
2008	Centenary of Scouts Australia	Caitlin Goodall	Depiction of the Australian spirit flame, the Australian Scout symbol which resembles the international Scouting symbol, the fleur-de-lis, incorporating the southern cross	17,200,000
2009	Centenary of Commonwealth Age Pension	Wojciech Pietranik	Six adults and five children depicted representing pensioners or people dependent on age pensions	10,158,000
2010	Centenary of Girl Guides Australia	Wojciech Pietranik	Depiction of the Australian Girl Guides Symbol which is the Girl Guides Trefoil with a 7 pointed Star in the top leaf of the Trefoil	12,585,000
2011	Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting	Tim Leaversuch	Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2011, Perth, Western Australia	9,397,000
2014	ANZAC Centenary		Logo of the ANZAC centenary. Australian soldier with head bowed and rifle reversed in solemn reflection	23,000,000
2015	ANZAC Centenary		Logo of the ANZAC centenary. Australian soldier with head bowed and rifle reversed in solemn reflection	Not Available
2016	ANZAC Centenary		Logo of the ANZAC centenary. Australian soldier with head bowed and rifle reversed in solemn reflection
	50th anniversary of Decimal Currency	Stuart Devlin	2016 obverse design to celebrate the 50th anniversary of decimal currency
2017	ANZAC Centenary		Logo of the ANZAC centenary. Australian soldier with head bowed and rifle reversed in solemn reflection
2018	ANZAC Centenary		Logo of the ANZAC centenary. Australian soldier with head bowed and rifle reversed in solemn reflection
2020	Centenary of Qantas		Logo of Centenary of Qantas
2020	Donation Dollar		A dollar designed to be donated

50 cent coins

Year Issued	Commemorative subject	Reverse designer	Reverse design	Mintage Figures
1970	Bicentenary of the exploration of the eastern coast of Australia by James Cook	Stuart Devlin	Portrait of Captain Cook with Australian map	16,548,000
1977	Silver Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia	Stuart Devlin	Silver Jubilee design	25,067,000
1981	Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer	Stuart Devlin	Portraits of Prince & Princess of Wales	20,000,000
1982	XII 1982 Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane	Stuart Devlin	Commonwealth Games Theme	49,610,200
1988	First Fleet Bicentenary 1788-1988	Michael Tracey	Ship	8,100,000
1991	25th Anniversary of Decimal Currency	George Kruger Gray & Horst Hahne	Merino ram's head	4,700,000
1994	International Year of the Family	Carolyn Rosser	Family	20,876,100
1995	50th Anniversary of the end of World War II	Louis Laumen & Horst Hahne	Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop	15,869,200
1998	Commemorating 200 years since the discovery of The Bass Strait in 1798 by Matthew Flinders who named the Strait after his colleague George Bass	Vladimir Gottwald	Portrait of Bass & Flinders	22,389,200
2000	Millennium Year 2000	Vladimir Gottwald	Stylised Australian flag	16,630,000
	Royal visit, also featuring a commemorative portrait of the Queen on the obverse.	Vladimir Gottwald	Flag pole at Parliament House	5,145,000
2001	Centenary of Federation – Australia			43,149,600
	Centenary of Federation – States & Territories – New South Wales	William Applegate Gullick.	New South Wales Coat of Arms	3,042,000
	Centenary of Federation – States & Territories – Australian Capital Territory			2,000,000
	Centenary of Federation – States & Territories – Queensland			2,320,000
	Centenary of Federation – States & Territories – Victoria			2,800,000
	Centenary of Federation – States & Territories – Northern Territory			2,080,000
	Centenary of Federation – States & Territories – Western Australia			2,400,000
	Centenary of Federation – States & Territories – South Australia			2,400,000
	Centenary of Federation – States & Territories – Tasmania			2,160,000
	Centenary of Federation – States & Territories – Norfolk Island			2,160,000
2002	Year of the Outback	Wojciech Pietranik		11,507,000
2003	Australia's Volunteers	Vladimir Gottwald		13,927,000
2004	Student Design	Vladimir Gottwald & Student John Serrano, St Peter's Primary School, East Keilor	Animals: Wombat, Koala and Lorikeet	10,577,000
2005	Remembrance: 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II	Wojciech Pietranik	Soldier silhouettes by a grave	21,033,000
	Student Design – XVIII 2006 Commonwealth Games Melbourne			21,000,000
2010	Commemorating Australia Day 2010	Vladimir Gottwald		11,452,000
2014	50th anniversary of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies – AIATSIS		AIATSIS logo, based on a shield created by the Uw Oykangand people of North Queensland.	3,000,000
2016	50th anniversary of Decimal Currency		2016 obverse design to celebrate the 50th anniversary of decimal currency
2017	25 Years – Mabo Decision & 50 Years – 1967 Referendum		Depiction of Eddie Mabo and Referendum How to Vote card from 1967
2019	International Year of Indigenous Languages		Features the words "International Year of Indigenous Languages" amidst 14 indigenous words that mean "money"
2022	Australian Signals Directorate's (ASD) 75th anniversary	ASD cryptographic experts collaborated with the Royal Australian Mint to design the coins unique and enigmatic code	Features encrypted text: "WE ARE AUDACIOUS IN CONCEPT AND METICULOUS IN EXECUTION FIND CLARITY IN 7 WIDTH X 5 DEPTH" using Atbash cipher. "BELONGING TO A GREAT TEAM STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE XOR HEX A5D75" encrypted with columnar transposition cipher. "For 75 years the Australian Signals Directorate has brought together people with the skills, adaptability and imagination to operate in the slim area between the difficult and the impossible." encrypted with bitwise XOR A bonus message encrypted with visual differences in the ciphertext font.

20 cent coin

Year Issued	Commemorative subject	Reverse designer	Reverse design	Mintage Figures
1995	50th Anniversary of the United Nations	Horst Hahne	UN emblem	4,835,000
2001	Tribute to Sir Donald Bradman	Vladimir Gottwald	Donald Bradman in cricket gear, circular lettering	10,000,000
	Centenary of Federation – New South Wales	Student Joseph Neve from the Bellingen High School	NSW emblem	3,202,500
	Centenary of Federation – Australian Capital Territory	Student Stacy Jo-Ann Paine from the Caroline Chisholm High School	Student Design	2,100,000
	Centenary of Federation – Queensland	Student Jenifer Gray from the Ingham State High School	Student Design	2,300,000
	Centenary of Federation – Victoria	Students Ryan Ladd & Mark Kennedy from the Lara Lake Primary School	Student Design	2,900,000
	Centenary of Federation – Norfolk Island	Student Megan Cunnings from the Norfolk Island Central School	Student Design	2,200,000
	Centenary of Federation – Northern Territory	Student Lisa Brett from the Leanyer School in Darwin	Student Design	2,100,000
	Centenary of Federation – Western Australia	Student Janice Ng from the Forrestfield Senior High School	Student Design	2,400,000
	Centenary of Federation – South Australia	Student Lisa Murphy from the Yankalilla Area School	Student Design	2,400,000
	Centenary of Federation – Tasmania	Student Abbey MacDonald from the Launceston Church Grammar School	Student Design	2,200,000
2003	Australia's Volunteers	Vladimir Gottwald		7,574,000
2005	60th Anniversary of the end of World War II	Vladimir Gottwald	WORLD WAR 1939-1945 COMING HOME lettering.	33,500,000
2010	The Australian Tax Office Centenary 2010			11,575,000
2011	Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton			10,123,000
	International Women's Day 100th anniversary 1911-2011			6,773,000
	International Year of Volunteers Plus 10			6,111,000
2013	Canberra Centenary		Aerial view of Canberra City layout	6,083,000
2016	50th anniversary of Decimal Currency		2016 obverse design to celebrate the 50th anniversary of decimal currency
2022	90th Anniversary of ABC	Aleksandra Stokic

10 cent coin

Year Issued	Commemorative subject	Reverse designer	Reverse design	Mintage Figures
2016	50th anniversary of decimal currency		2016 obverse design to celebrate the 50th anniversary of decimal currency

5 cent coin

Year Issued	Commemorative subject	Reverse designer	Reverse design	Mintage Figures
2016	50th anniversary of Decimal Currency	Stuart Devlin	2016 obverse design to celebrate the 50th anniversary of decimal currency

References

1. Treasury. "Currency (Royal Australian Mint) Determination 2012 (No. 1)". comlaw.gov.au. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
2. Reporter, Megan Doherty City (21 June 2013). "Colourful coin right on the money". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
3. "Two Dollars". www.ramint.gov.au. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
4. "2012-13 Annual Report" (PDF). Royal Australian Mint. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
5. "2014-15 Annual Report" (PDF). Royal Australian Mint. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
6. "2015-16 Annual Report" (PDF). Royal Australian Mint. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
7. "2015 $2 'C' Mintmark Uncirculated Coin". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
8. "Mint makes decimal currency history with the flip of a coin". www.ramint.gov.au. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
9. "2016-17 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2022.
10. "2017-18 Annual Report" (PDF). Royal Australian Mint. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
11. "Australian Olympic Team 2016 Coloured Coin Collection". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
12. "Woolworths and the Royal Australian Mint release limited edition Olympic and Paralympic coins - Woolworths Group". www.woolworthsgroup.com.au. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
13. "2017 $2 'C' Mintmark Uncirculated Coin". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
14. "2017 $2 'C' Mintmark Coloured Uncirculated Coin". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
15. "Lest We Forget Eternal Flame $2 'C' Mintmark Uncirculated Coin". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
16. "2018-19 Annual Report" (PDF). Royal Australian Mint. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
17. "2019-20 Annual Report" (PDF). Royal Australian Mint. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
18. Kanapathippillai, Julia (30 October 2018). "Remembrance coins in full bloom". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
19. "ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 $2 Coloured Uncirculated Coin". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
20. "2020-21 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2022.
21. "2021 $2 'C' Mintmark Coloured Uncirculated Coin". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
22. "Australian Ambulance Services". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
23. "50th Anniversary of the Australian Aboriginal Flag $2 Uncirculated Year Set". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
24. "2022 Uncirculated Year Set". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
25. Pitt, Ian W (2000). Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values (19th ed.). Chippendale, New South Wales: Renniks Publications. p. 85. ISBN 0958557446. OCLC 154635503.
26. "Australian 50c Coins". Cruzi's coins. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
27. "A Guide to Australian Decimal Coins". decimalcoins.com. Retrieved 12 January 2017.

External links

•  Australia portal
•  Money portal
•  Numismatics portal

• The Australian Dollar Coin
• Circulating coinage
• Decimal coins