History of the Australian national currency

Many forms of currency were used in the Australian colonies after the arrival of the first European settlers in 1788. In the rough early conditions barter was necessary,

and payment in commodities like rum sometimes replaced money transactions. Some of the first official notes used in Australia were Police Fund Notes, issued by the Bank of New South Wales in 1816.

In 1810, Governor Macquarie created the Colonial Police Fund to provide a facility (источник) from which government instrumentalities (органы) and projects could pay expenses and into which duties (пошлины), fines (штрафы) and fees (платежи) could be paid.

The money paid into the Police Fund was, at that time, the main source of revenue (доход) for the running of the non-penal facilities (учреждения) of the colony. The money was derived from duties on various goods including rum (spirits and wine), coal, cedar (кедровое дерево), sandalwood (сандаловое дерево), oil, etc, and from licenses, fines and fees. The Fund helped pay expenses for the gaol (тюрьма), police establishments, wharves (верфи), quays (пристани), bridges and roadbuilding and repair within Sydney Town.

After Federation in 1901, the federal government became responsible for the currency.

The Australian Notes Act was passed in 1910. In 1913 the first series of Australian notes was issued, based on the old British system of twelve pence to a shilling, twenty shillings to a pound.

In 1963 Australia initiated the change to decimal currency. Over 1000 submissions were made about the name of the new currency unit. Prime Minister Robert Menzies wished to name the currency " The Royal ", and other names such as ‘the Austral’, 'The Oz', 'The Boomer', 'The Roo', 'The Kanga', 'The Emu', 'The Digger', 'The Kwid' and 'Ming' (the nickname of Menzies) were also proposed. Due to Menzies' influence, the name " Royal" was settled upon, and trial designs were prepared and printed. The unusual choice of name for the currency proved unpopular, and the ' Dollar ' was eventually chosen as the name. Decimal currency was introduced on 14 February 1966.