20. The Royal Australian Mint

One of the things I love about Canberra, is that I can find all these different places to go and don't have to plan my day around them because everything is relatively close. It was a wet day when I visited the Royal Australian Mint and it was a good thing to do. I did a free 30 minute tour and it was very informative! I think it helped that there was a very curious 10 year old in attendance.

Loved this staircase filled with 5c coins and blanks. Despite the blanks, there is enough money to bank! Tidbit: The blank coins come from South Korea.

Because the details on the coins are so detailed, the artwork begins a lot bigger than the coins. All of the hanging discs were used for this purpose and somehow processed via the machine below.




There used to be three Mints in Australia (Canberra, Melbourne and Perth) to make the pre-decimal coins but the Melbourne and Perth Mints were no longer allowed to operate once decimal currency came in.

I looked at some of the old advertisments about the change of currency. I think anyone who was around to see them would have no problem remembering the exact date that Australia started using decimal currency.


All coins were round. The 50c piece was only round in 1966. People complained that it was too similar to the 20c coin. The $1 coin was circulated in 1984 and the $2 coin in 1988. In 1992 the 1c and 2c stopped being made.

Uncirculated collector's coins are made here. I think it would be a pretty boring job!






Regular coins are made here. The blanks are stamped by plates from top and bottom inside the blue boxes top centre of this picture. I am guessing that the basket near the bottom of the picture that looks like it is full of coins, is full of blanks. The two red barrels, in front of the blue boxes, would be picked up by the machine below and way as much as a hippo or so.






Shortly after my visit, I came across a donation coin, which has green on it. I'm not sure that I had noticed any coloured coins before.






I had never before thought about notes being made in a different factory from the Mint. Notes are made in Melbourne! Our Polymer notes were invented in the ACT and other countries that use the technology have to pay us royalties 😊





I liked the coat of arms in these picnic shelters.

Did you know?
  • The mint only sells coins to banks and will make what there is a demand for.
  • 250 million coins are made each year.
  • The Australian Mint makes coins for other countries too. e.g. the Pacific Islands.
  • A group of kangaroos is called a 'mob' and for there to be a 'mob' the group must have a minimum of five kangaroos.
  • Staff at the mint have to go through airport type security each time they enter and exit a room and all have a high-level security clearance.
  • You can pay $3 to print yourself a $1 coin at the mint. It is worth $1.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

22. Walking - Red Hill and Mt Ainslie

Image
Feeling inspired by my jaunt to the Blue Mountains at Easter, I decided to get back out into nature.  Red Hill and Mt Ainslie are places that I had heard about in terms of walking/hiking. I don't have hiking shoes, so I walk. At least, I feel like that's what I do. It took me a whole 7 minutes to drive to the Red Hill lookout (south side), where I found myself a walk and about 10 minutes to park the car at the War Memorial to embark on my walk up Mt Ainslie (North side). Both walks involved going up (hill or stairs or both). I much prefer going down as requires minimum energy. However, there is not the same amount of satisfaction when I reach the bottom as there is when I reach the top. The Blue Mountains were far superior. Perhaps I should have done these walks first? It was still nice to be outdoors and in a naturalish environment. Unfortunately, I think these walks helped me to catch a cold as the breeze was chilly, the sun was warm and when going up hill, I felt hot! I sus...
Read more

17. National Archives of Australia

Image
The National Archives of Australia were my last sightseeing visit before heading to Darwin via Melbourne for a short holiday. Not too many photos here but it was interesting. I found out that my Letter to John Howard is probably saved somewhere, so not only Dad, with his book of poems, now in possession of the Victorian Library, will be kept as a part of history. It's both good and disturbing that women have been fighting for equality for so long. Did you know? Does anyone remember this? I watched one or two and thought it was genuinely funny but only funny because sadly true.  Basically Black - Superboong - YouTube Basically Black | ABC | 1973 | ACMI collection | ACMI: Your museum of screen culture Another long fight. I was interested in this letter about Cloud Seeding because I wondered why it wasn't an option during drought.     An endorsement that the Archives are an interesting place to visit. They also hold events for members.
Read more

18. Driving back from Melbourne

Image
I googled all the places that I could stop between Canberra and Melbourne and enjoyed my stops at Gundagai and Holbrook. The weather was nice too! I need to go back to Gundagai on the hour or half hour to visit Kellyland. Gundagai A new character for Play School. Big Ned (instead of Big Ted.. get it?) A wall mural, perhaps still in progress. I visited the museum and replica homestead. Genuine artifacts. Convict train I learned that Ned Kelly's last words were not "Such is life." They were "Ah, Well, I suppose.." Dr. Stuart E. Dawson∗(Monash University) backs it up. Holbrook  The Museum was closed. Get out the magnifying glass 🔍 The dog sits on the Tucker box and the Koala gives out hugs.
Read more