The obverse of Australian coins are struck with an image of the reigning Sovereign.
Arrangements for the King Charles III effigy are still being finalised by the Australian Government.
Based on historical effigy changes of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the process may go as follows:
- Seek approval to use the design from Buckingham Palace
- Royal Australian Mint develops tools for manufacturing
- Trialling
- Currency determination
- Production
- Release of new coins through the major banks
Arrangements for the King Charles III effigy are still being finalised by the Australian Government.
The new effigy of His Majesty will likely be announced by the Minister.
The cost for adopting a new effigy on Australian coins is negligible.
Standard circulating coins are produced to bank demand which is forecast each year. There will be an allocation of every denomination, but exact quantities will be based on bank demand.
Existing Coins
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 opening in 1965, the Royal Australian Mint has produced over 15 billion decimal coins bearing the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Once coins are released into circulation there is not a way of monitoring how many remain in circulation.
Since Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, six effigies of the Queen have appeared on Australian coin obverses. Previous effigies were designed by Mary Gillick (1953), Arnold Machin (1966), Raphael Maklouf (1985) and Ian Rank-Broadley (1998). During 2000, Royal Australian Mint designer Vladimir Gottwald’s effigy was used on the 50c Royal Visit coin only.
The most recent effigy of Her Majesty, designed by Jody Clark, is the sixth effigy to appear on Australian coinage. This effigy has been used since 2019.
Australian coinage is traditionally struck with an image of the reigning Sovereign on the obverse design. The determination of Australia's currency is the responsibility of the Minister.
No. Coins featuring the Queen’s effigy will continue to be minted during the transition to a new effigy of King Charles III.
Design of the new effigy
Arrangements for the King Charles III effigy are still being finalised by the Australian Government.
The determination of Australia's currency is the responsibility of the Minister. The Royal Australian Mint, as a prescribed agency within the Commonwealth Government portfolio of the Treasury, follows Government direction on the creation of coinage. Any direction to change the designs or the denominations of Australian coins would be decided by those bodies.
Arrangements for the King Charles III effigy are still being finalised by the Australian Government.
Yes, in keeping with tradition, the new Sovereign will face the opposite direction to their predecessor in the profile portrait depicted on Australian coinage.
The responsibility for deciding the design of Australia’s circulating coins resides with the responsible Treasury-portfolio Minister (currently the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury). Although Australian legal tender coins bear the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, there is no royal prerogative or legal requirement for this to be the case; rather it is tradition.
Traditionally Australian coins have maintained the same medallic orientation.
Details regarding an official portrait of the new Sovereign will be released in due course.
The Royal Australian Mint does not speculate about the design of the effigy of the new Sovereign.
The determination of Australia's currency is the responsibility of the responsible Treasury-portfolio Minister (currently the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury). The Royal Australian Mint puts forward proposed designs to the Minister for approval.
Arrangements for the King Charles III effigy are still being finalised by the Australian Government.
Not all Commonwealth nations use the same effigy at the present. The effigy is granted to Commonwealth Nations upon request to Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Australian Mint and the Australian Government does not intend to set any particular release date. The official portrait of the new Sovereign will be released in due course.
Commemoration Plans
Given the Queen’s long history with Australia and Australian coinage, the Royal Australian Mint will appropriately commemorate the Queen in due course.
The Royal Australian Mint has a tradition of commemorating the reigning Sovereign through circulating and commemorative coins and will continue to do so in future. The Mint has previously released a $2 Circulating Coin marking the Queen’s Jubilee in 2013 and a commemorative three coin set in 2016 to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday. Most recently, the Mint released coins commemorating the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The Royal Australian Mint is unable to disclose information regarding future coin releases as dates and details are held commercial in confidence and will only become available once the coin/coins are determined and released. This information will be advised in due course.
The Mint is unable to disclose information regarding future coin releases. Dates and details are held commercial in confidence and will only become available once the coin/coins are determined and released. This information will be advised in due course.
Mourning period
Following the announcement of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Royal Australian Mint stopped all coin presses for one day
The Mint’s factory will be shut down on 22 September 2022, to mark the National Day of Mourning. The Gallery will be open to visitors from 10am to 5pm*.
*Time has been extended to accommodate school and public visits
Future dated coins
It is standard practice for mints to release, in advance, certain collector coins which bear a future year date. This allows the mints to meet market demand. Under this practice, some 2023-dated collector coins have already been released with the Queen’s effigy. No 2023-dated circulating coins bearing the Queen’s effigy will be released.