Minister Announces New Citizenship Coin for Australia Day

Senator Nick Sherry, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law and Royal Australian Mint, has announced that the nation’s newest citizens affirmed in Canberra on Australia Day will receive a special new citizenship anniversary coin.

"It is a fitting day to congratulate new citizens with a collectible coin which marks the 60th Anniversary of Australian Citizenship."

"In releasing this coin, the Government and the Royal Australian Mint acknowledge the importance of Australian citizenship and the more than four million people who have taken part in the affirmation ceremony."

"Citizenship promotes a sense of belonging, a chance to make a commitment to Australia and its values and to share the role of building Australia and its future," Minister Sherry said.

In 1948, the Australian Citizenship Act came into effect.

"The Mint has a proud history of producing coins with themes that mark anniversaries, events and milestones in Australian history. Our citizenship coin carries on this tradition, enabling all Australians to hold a piece of history in their very own hands," said Graham Smith, Acting Chief Executive, Royal Australian Mint.

The 2009 uncirculated $1 citizenship coin design features the smiling faces of Australian citizens, each as individual as the country they originate from. When put together, the pieces of the puzzle behind the smiling faces build a map of Australia, symbolic of individuals coming together, building Australia and its future.

For more information or images of the 60th Anniversary of Australian Citizenship coin please visit www.ramint.gov.au or call 1300 652 020.

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About the Royal Australian Mint

His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, officially opened the Royal Australian Mint, Canberra, on Monday 22nd February 1965. The Mint was commissioned to produce Australia’s decimal coinage, which was to be introduced into circulation on 14th February 1966. The Royal Australian Mint holds a place in history as the first mint in Australia not to be a branch of the Royal Mint, London.

Since opening in 1965 the Mint has produced over eleven billion circulating coins and has the capacity to produce over two million coins per day, or over six hundred million coins per year.

The Royal Australian Mint has struck coins for a number of South Pacific nations. Export coins were first struck in 1969 for New Zealand and, since then, coins have been produced for Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Western Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh, Israel and Tokelau.