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{{Short description|Former currency of Australia}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox currency
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| frequently_used_banknotes = [[Australian ten-shilling note|10/–]], [[Australian one-pound note|£1]], [[Australian five-pound note|£5]], [[Australian ten-pound note|£10]]
| rarely_used_banknotes = £20, £50, £100, £1,000
| date_of_introduction = {{start date and age|1910}}
| date_of_withdrawal =
| replaced_by_currency = [[Australian dollar]]
| issuing_authority = {{plainlist|
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}}
The '''pound''' ([[Currency symbol|
==History==
{{main|History of Australian currency}}
The establishment of a separate Australian currency was contemplated by [[section 51(xii) of the Constitution of Australia]], which gave [[Parliament of Australia|Federal Parliament]] the right to legislate with respect to "currency, coinage, and legal tender".<ref>{{Cite web|title=
===Establishment===
====Coinage====
The [[Deakin government (1905–1908)|Deakin government]]'s ''Coinage Act 1909''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C1909A00006|title=Coinage Act 1909|date=4 September 1909 | publisher=Federal Register of Legislation|access-date=6 April 2020}}</ref> distinguished between "British coin" and "Australian coin", giving both status as [[legal tender]] of equal value. The Act gave the [[Treasurer of Australia|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 of Australia|Governor-General]]. The first coins were issued in 1910, produced by the [[Royal Mint]] in London.<ref name=tilley>{{cite book|title=Changing Fortunes: A History of the Australian Treasury|first=Paul|last=Tilley|year=2019|publisher=Melbourne University Publishing|isbn=978-0522873894}}</ref>
====Paper currency====
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[[File:AUS-4d-Commonwealth of Australia-One Pound (1918).jpg|thumb|Commonwealth of Australia, £1 (1918){{refn|The pound (in banknote form) was first issued in Australia in 1910 by a limited number of Australian chartered banks. The first year of issue for the Commonwealth of Australia Treasury Note pound was 1913. The pictured note is from the 1913 second issue (printed in 1918).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cuhaj |first1=George S. |year=2010|title=Standard Catalog of World Paper Money General Issues (1368–1960)|publisher=Krause Publications |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BuNA39dnuHsC |edition=13|isbn=978-1-4402-1293-2}}</ref>|group="nb"}}]]
The [[Andrew Fisher|Fisher Government]]'s ''[[Australian Notes Act 1910]]''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C1910A00011|title=Australian Notes Act 1910|date=16 September 1910 |publisher=Federal Register of Legislation|access-date=6 April 2020}}</ref> 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 [[Department of the Treasury (Australia)|Commonwealth Treasury]]". It also prohibited the circulation of state notes and withdrew their status as legal tender.<ref name=tilley/><ref name=RBA>Reserve Bank of Australia, [https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/history/ "History of Banknotes"]</ref> 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", 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.<ref name=RBA/>
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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 [[deflation]]ary 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.
Coins of the Australian pound also circulated freely in New Zealand, although they were never legal tender. By 1931, Australian coins made up approximately 30% of the total circulation in New Zealand. The devaluation of Australian and New Zealand exchange rates relative to the [[pound sterling]] led to New Zealand's ''[[Coinage Act 1933]]'' and the issuing of the first coinage of the [[New Zealand pound]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Stocker |first=Mark |date=2005 |title='A Very Satisfactory Series': The 1933 New Zealand Coinage Designs |url=https://www.britnumsoc.org/images/PDFs/2005_BNJ_75_9_nz.pdf |journal=[[British Numismatic Journal]] |volume=75 |pages=142–160}}</ref>
===World War II===
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===Post-war devaluation===
In 1949, when the United Kingdom devalued sterling against the [[US dollar]], Australian Prime Minister and Treasurer [[Ben Chifley]] followed suit so the Australian pound would not become over-valued in [[sterling zone]]
===Decimalisation===
Decimalisation had been proposed for Australian currency since 1902, when a select committee of the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], chaired by [[George Edwards (Australian politician)|George Edwards]], had recommended that Australia adopt a decimal currency with the [[Florin (British coin)|florin]] (two shillings) as its base.<ref name="decimal">{{cite news |publisher=Commonwealth of Australia |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=reports/1902/1902_ppd4.pdf |title=Report from the Select Committee on Coinage |date=3 April 1902}}</ref>
In February 1959 the Commonwealth Government appointed a Decimal Currency Committee to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of a decimal currency, and, if a decimal currency was favoured, the unit of account and denominations of subsidiary currency most appropriate for Australia, the method of introduction and the cost involved.<ref name=yearbook>{{cite web |title=Chapter 20. Private finance |url=http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/DetailsPage/1301.01963 |access-date=12 July 2013 |author=Commonwealth of Australia |year=1963| work=Year Book Australia}}</ref>
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The committee presented its report in August 1960. It recommended the introduction of the new system on the second Monday in February 1963.<ref name=yearbook/> In July 1961 the Commonwealth Government confirmed its support of a decimal currency system, but considered it undesirable to make final decisions on the detailed arrangement that would be necessary to effect the change.<ref name=yearbook/> On 7 April 1963 the Commonwealth Government announced that a system of decimal currency was to be introduced into Australia at the earliest practicable date, and gave February 1966, as the tentative change-over date.<ref name=yearbook/> On 14 February 1966, a [[Decimalisation|decimal]] currency, the [[Australian dollar|dollar]] of one hundred [[Cent (currency)|cent]]s, was introduced.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/currency.html | title = Our currency | access-date = 12 July 2013 | author = Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade | date = November 2009 | work = About Australia | publisher = Commonwealth of Australia | archive-date = 23 May 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120523201355/http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/currency.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>
Under the implementation conversion rate, £
==Coins==
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==External links==
* [http://www.cruzis-coins.com/ Cruzi's Coins]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422143214/http://www.cruzis-coins.com/ |date=22 April 2021 }}.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070407194425/http://www.australianstamp.com/coin-web/aust/cwealth.htm Commonwealth Pre-Decimal Currency] (archived)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100306144151/http://www.bluesheet.com.au/ Australian Pre-Decimal Coins] (archived)
* [https://onlinecoin.club/Coins/Country/Australia/ Coins from Australia]
{{n-start}}
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{{n-currency|location=[[Australia]]|start=1910|end=1966}}
{{n-after|currency=[[Australian dollar]]|reason=[[decimalisation]]|ratio=2 dollars = 1 pound}}
{{
{{Australian currency}}
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