03/09/2020
The Royal Australian Mint (the Mint) has launched the second limited edition commemorative coin in the Star Dreaming series which illustrates important Indigenous Australian Astrological stories.
Royal Australian Mint CEO – Mr Ross MacDiarmid said “The release of these special coins ensure Australians have access to important stories from Australia’s Indigenous history”.
“The Star Dreaming series pays tribute to Indigenous Australians who were the first astronomers and have been using the stars as navigation maps, calendars and to tell stories for tens of thousands of years”.
Indigenous Australian culture dates back more than 65,000 years and is considered the oldest civilisation in the world. For tens of thousands of years, the stars have been their maps, weather predictors, timekeepers and lent a backdrop to important storytelling.
The Star Dreaming series launched in May 2020 with the release of the Emu in the Sky - 2020 $1 Coloured Silver Uncirculated Coin. This latest release in the series pays tribute to the significance of the ‘Seven Sisters’, one of the brightest and most well-known star clusters in the constellation Taurus.
The ‘Seven Sisters’ tells the story of the seven sisters fleeing to the sky to escape a man who wants to take one of the sisters as his wife. The Yamaji people of the Murchison region in Western Australia, refer to the Seven Sister stars as Nyarluwarri in the Wajarri language. When Nyarluwarri sits low on the horizon at sunset, the people know that emu eggs are ready for harvesting. Yamaji people use the stars to also predict seasonal rainfall by observing how bright or faded the star cluster is at certain times of the year.
The Star Dreaming – Seven Sisters – 2020 $1 Coloured Silver Uncirculated Coin was developed in collaboration with Wajarri-Noongar artist Christine ‘Jugarnu’ Collard whose artwork has been beautifully interpreted in the coin’s design.
“These coins are a celebration of Australia’s diverse Indigenous culture, we hope these coins will serve as a tangible reminder of the importance of preserving Indigenous stories in Australia” said Mr. MacDiarmid.
Media Enquiries: Annika Scott, Annika.Scott@ramint.gov.au, 02 6202 3466
