The current Sovereign is His Majesty King Charles III. His effigy features on the obverse (or ‘heads’) side on all Australian coins since 2023.
His Majesty King Charles III became the new monarch to feature on Australian coins after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. The coins featuring his effigy began circulating to the public in 2023.
The process for changing the effigy on coins involves a collaboration between Buckingham Palace, the Treasury, and the Royal Australian Mint. The process includes:
- Seeking approval to use the design from Buckingham Palace
- Royal Australian Mint develops tools for manufacturing the design
- Trialling the new design
- Currency determination
- Production
- Release of new coins through the major banks
The current effigy of His Majesty King Charles III was designed by Daniel Thorne of the Royal Mint in the United Kingdom.
No. Tradition dictates that the monarch faces the alternative direction to their predecessor. Queen Elizabeth II’s effigy was right facing, therefore, King Charles III’s effigy faces to the left.
Not all Commonwealth nations use the same effigy at the present. The effigy is granted to Commonwealth Nations upon request to Buckingham Palace.
Existing coins will continue to remain in circulation until they are recycled due to wear and tear. Coins with the effigy of the new Sovereign will gradually replace the old coins. There will not be a recall of coins currently in circulation and they will remain legal tender.
Since her coronation in 1953, there have been six different effigies of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Australian currency. As the longest-reigning British monarch, the effigies capture a moment in time and history, telling the story of her reign. The designers of these effigies were Mary Gillick (1953), Arnold Machin (1966), Raphael Maklouf (1985), Ian Rank-Broadley (1998), Vladimir Gottwald (2000) and Jody Clark (2019).
The Royal Australian Mint released the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Obverse in January 2023. The design of the obverse side was used on commemorative Australian coins following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. Since Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, six effigies of the Queen have appeared on Australian coins. Featuring British engraver Jody Clark’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, the Memorial Obverse had one notable addition – the Queen’s years of reign reading “Elizabeth II 1952-2022”.