Silver Price in Australian Dollars

The Australian dollar (AUD) is the national currency of Australia. Australia boasts very stable and predictable politics and economy and the foreign exchange markets are mostly free from government intervention, making the Australian dollar a great choice for currency traders. It is known as “The Aussie” in foreign exchange circles. It is the fifth most traded currency in foreign exchange markets. The Australian dollar is popular with investors for its proximity to Asian economies.

The first currency legislation in Australia was enacted in 1800. The proclamation defined the value of many foreign coins that were already in circulation. However, there was so little currency circulating in Australia at the time that rum was chosen as currency by the early settlers. Coins were not minted until 1813 when New South Wales began to punch holes in Spanish silver dollars. The round middle that was punched out was named the dump and the remaining outer ring from the original coin was termed a holey dollar. The value of the holey dollar was chosen to be five schillings, or one-quarter of a pound Sterling, whereas the dump was valued as one schilling and three pence, roughly equal to one-quarter of a holey dollar. This mutilation of the Spanish dollar was a ploy to maintain the money in New South Wales and keep it from being taken to other Australian states, where it would be worthless.

England went on the gold standard in 1816 and the British Empire began to introduce Sterling coins to its colonies in 1825. This strategy was needed after Spain’s colonies in Latin America won their independence. Latin America was the largest producer of Spanish dollars and the new independet States had seriously reduced the minting of Spanish dollars, generating scarcity in the British colonies.

The first State bank in Australia was the Bank of New South Wales, established in 1817. At that time private banks had been issuing paper banknotes denominated in pounds. Gold coins denominated in pounds were issued in Adelaide in 1852. In 1855 the Sydney mint began issuing gold sovereigns at par with the pound Sterling, mostly for exportation to India. At this point in time Australian gold sovereigns (with a value of one pound) and gold half-sovereigns, British copper and silver coins, private bank notes and a hodgepodge of locally produced copper tokens used for smaller transactions were all circulating in Australia.

Australia gained autonomy as a Federation in 1901 and the government assigned itself the right to print currency. With the goal of establishing a national currency, it began excessively printing bank notes in an attempt to drive out private banks’ currency through outright devaluation. In 1910 the Australian Notes Act was passed, ending the circulation of government paper currency and the central government was left as the lone authority for currency production and control. The Australian pound was adopted as a national currency and fixed at par to the pound Sterling. It was made up of 20 schillings whichwere made up of twelve pence. This basically put Australia on a gold standard, since England and the pound Sterling were on a gold standard.

England abandoned the gold standard at the outbreak of WWI in 1914. When England returned to gold standard in 1925 it caused huge deflation throughout all of the countries linked to the English currency. By 1931 Australia enforced emergency economic measures, including removing the Australian pound from the gold standard and devaluing the currency.

In 1949 the U.K. devalued the pound Sterling, forcing Australia in turn to devalue their own currency to avoid losing competitiveness in world markets because of an overvalued Australian pound. Both currencies lost 30 percent of their value against the US dollar.

After an extensive of planning period, Australia adopted a new decimal currency in 1966 and named it the Australian dollar. The exchange rate was fixed at $2 = £1. The Australian dollar is the current currency of Australia.

Silver prices in Australian dollars currently stand around $32 per ounce.

Bullion coins issued in Australia include:

the gold sovereign and it’s half-ounce counterpart (1855)
.925 fine sterling silver pence and schilling coins (1910)
bronze pennies and half-pennies (1911)
.500 fine sterling silver coins (1946)

The Perth Mint is Australia’s oldest operating mint. It was founded in 1896 as a branch of the Royal Mint in London.It is currently owned by Gold Corporation under the direct control of the government of West Australia. It produces a variety of bullion coins. The most popular coins are gold and silver Kangaroos, Koalas and Nuggets.