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Australian pound
The pound (sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. Like other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 shillings (denoted by the symbol s or /–), each of 12 pence (denoted by the symbol d).
The establishment of a separate Australian currency was contemplated by section 51(xii) of the Constitution of Australia, which gave the Federal Parliament power to legislate with respect to "currency, coinage, and legal tender".
The Deakin government's Coinage Act 1909 distinguished between "British coin" and "Australian coin", giving both status as legal tender of equal value. The Act gave the Treasurer the power to issue silver, bronze and nickel coins, with the dimensions, size, denominations, weight and fineness to be determined by proclamation of the Governor-General. The first coins were issued in 1910, produced by the Royal Mint in London.
The Fisher Government's Australian Notes Act 1910 gave the Governor-General the power to authorise the Treasurer to issue "Australian notes" as legal tender, "payable in gold coin on demand at the Commonwealth Treasury".[This quote needs a citation] It also prohibited the circulation of state notes and withdrew their status as legal tender.[full citation needed] In the same year the Bank Notes Tax Act 1910 was passed imposing a prohibitive tax of 10% per annum on "all bank notes issued or re-issued by any bank in the Commonwealth after the commencement of this Act, and not redeemed",[This quote needs a citation] which effectively ended the use of private currency in Australia.
As a transitional measure lasting three years, blank note forms of 16 banks were supplied to the government in 1911 to be overprinted as redeemable in gold and issued as the first Commonwealth notes. Some of these banknotes were overprinted by the treasury, and circulated as Australian banknotes until new designs were ready for Australia's first federal government-issued banknotes, which commenced in 1913.
In May 2015, the National Library of Australia announced that it had discovered the first £A 1 banknote printed by the Commonwealth of Australia, among a collection of specimen banknotes. This uncirculated Australian pound note, with the serial number P000001 printed with red ink, was the first piece of currency to carry the coat of arms of Australia.
The Australian currency was fixed in value to sterling. As such Australia was on the gold standard so long as Britain was.
In 1914, the British government removed sterling from the gold standard. When it was returned to the gold standard in 1925, the sudden increase in its value (imposed by the nominal gold price) unleashed crushing deflationary pressures. Both the initial 1914 inflation and the subsequent 1926 deflation had far-reaching economic effects throughout the British Empire, Australia and the world. In 1929, as an emergency measure during the Great Depression, Australia left the gold standard, resulting in a devaluation relative to sterling. A variety of pegs to sterling applied until December 1931, when the government devalued the local unit by 20%, making one Australian pound equal to 16 shillings sterling and one pound sterling equal to 25 Australian shillings.
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Australian pound
The pound (sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. Like other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 shillings (denoted by the symbol s or /–), each of 12 pence (denoted by the symbol d).
The establishment of a separate Australian currency was contemplated by section 51(xii) of the Constitution of Australia, which gave the Federal Parliament power to legislate with respect to "currency, coinage, and legal tender".
The Deakin government's Coinage Act 1909 distinguished between "British coin" and "Australian coin", giving both status as legal tender of equal value. The Act gave the Treasurer the power to issue silver, bronze and nickel coins, with the dimensions, size, denominations, weight and fineness to be determined by proclamation of the Governor-General. The first coins were issued in 1910, produced by the Royal Mint in London.
The Fisher Government's Australian Notes Act 1910 gave the Governor-General the power to authorise the Treasurer to issue "Australian notes" as legal tender, "payable in gold coin on demand at the Commonwealth Treasury".[This quote needs a citation] It also prohibited the circulation of state notes and withdrew their status as legal tender.[full citation needed] In the same year the Bank Notes Tax Act 1910 was passed imposing a prohibitive tax of 10% per annum on "all bank notes issued or re-issued by any bank in the Commonwealth after the commencement of this Act, and not redeemed",[This quote needs a citation] which effectively ended the use of private currency in Australia.
As a transitional measure lasting three years, blank note forms of 16 banks were supplied to the government in 1911 to be overprinted as redeemable in gold and issued as the first Commonwealth notes. Some of these banknotes were overprinted by the treasury, and circulated as Australian banknotes until new designs were ready for Australia's first federal government-issued banknotes, which commenced in 1913.
In May 2015, the National Library of Australia announced that it had discovered the first £A 1 banknote printed by the Commonwealth of Australia, among a collection of specimen banknotes. This uncirculated Australian pound note, with the serial number P000001 printed with red ink, was the first piece of currency to carry the coat of arms of Australia.
The Australian currency was fixed in value to sterling. As such Australia was on the gold standard so long as Britain was.
In 1914, the British government removed sterling from the gold standard. When it was returned to the gold standard in 1925, the sudden increase in its value (imposed by the nominal gold price) unleashed crushing deflationary pressures. Both the initial 1914 inflation and the subsequent 1926 deflation had far-reaching economic effects throughout the British Empire, Australia and the world. In 1929, as an emergency measure during the Great Depression, Australia left the gold standard, resulting in a devaluation relative to sterling. A variety of pegs to sterling applied until December 1931, when the government devalued the local unit by 20%, making one Australian pound equal to 16 shillings sterling and one pound sterling equal to 25 Australian shillings.