Australian pound: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Former currency of Australia}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Infobox currency

| 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

| replaced_by_currency = [[Australian dollar]]

| issuing_authority = {{plainlist|

}}

 

 

==History==

{{main|History of Australian currency}}

 

 

===Establishment===

 

====Coinage====

 

====Paper currency====

[[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"}}]]

 

 

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/>

 

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.

 

===World War II===

 

===Post-war devaluation===

 

===Decimalisation===

 

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>

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>

 

 

==Coins==

 

==External links==

 

{{n-start}}

{{n-currency|location=[[Australia]]|start=1910|end=1966}}

{{n-after|currency=[[Australian dollar]]|reason=[[decimalisation]]|ratio=2 dollars = 1 pound}}

 

{{Australian currency}}