View source for Australian pound

{{Short description|Currency of Australia from 1910 to 1966}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox currency
| image_1 = AUS-31-Commonwealth Bank of Australia-Five Pounds (1954).jpg
| image_title_1 = Five Pounds
| image_2 = Australian 1958 threepence.jpg
| image_title_2 = Threepence
| plural = pounds
| unit = pound
| subunit_ratio_1 = {{frac|1|20}}
| subunit_name_1 = [[shilling]]
| subunit_ratio_2 = {{frac|1|240}}
| subunit_name_2 = [[penny]]
| symbol = [[Pound sign|£]]
| symbol_subunit_1 = s, /–
| symbol_subunit_2 = d
| plural_subunit_2 = pence
| used_coins = [[Halfpenny (Australian)|{{frac|1|2}}d]], [[Penny (Australian coin)|1d]], [[Threepence (Australian coin)|3d]], [[Sixpence (Australian)|6d]], [[Shilling (Australian)|1/-]], [[Florin (Australian)|2/-]],
[[Crown (Australian)|5/-]] (5/- only used from 1937 to 1938)
| coin_article = Coins of the Australian pound
| 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 = {{end date and age|1966|02|14|df=y}}
| replaced_by_currency = [[Australian dollar]]
| issuing_authority = {{plainlist|
*[[Treasury (Australia)|Treasury]] (1910–1920)
*[[Commonwealth Bank|Commonwealth Bank of Australia]] (1920–1960)
*[[Reserve Bank of Australia]] (1960–1966)}}
| using_countries = [[Australia]]
| pegged_with = initially to [[Pound sterling|sterling]] at par, then at £A&nbsp;1 = 16 shillings sterling
| pegged_by = [[New Guinea pound]] at par
| obsolete = yes
}}

The '''pound''' ([[Currency symbol|sign]]: '''£''', '''£A'''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/13020-1944/page/74/mode/2up?q=%C2%A3A | title=CBCS Pocket Compendium of Australian Statistics, No. 30 - 1944 | date=December 1944 }}</ref> 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 [[Shilling (Australian)|shilling]]s (denoted by the  symbol '''s''' or '''/–'''), each of 12 [[Penny (Australian coin)|pence]] (denoted by the  symbol '''d''').

==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 the [[Parliament of Australia|Federal Parliament]] power to legislate with respect to "currency, coinage, and legal tender".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act - sect 51 Legislative powers of the Parliament [see Notes 10 and 11]|url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/coaca430/s51.html|access-date=2020-09-08|website=classic.austlii.edu.au}}</ref>

===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====
[[File:The City Bank Of Sydney 20 pound note.jpg|thumb|right|City Bank of Sydney in Australia cancelled £20 banknote]]
[[File:AUS-4d-Commonwealth of Australia-One Pound (1918).jpg|thumb|Commonwealth of Australia, £1 (1918){{efn |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>}}]]

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]]".{{quote without source |date=March 2025}} 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>{{full citation needed |date=March 2025}} 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",{{quote without source |date=March 2025}} 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/>

In May 2015, the [[National Library of Australia]] announced that it had discovered the [[Australian one-pound note#Historic £1 note|first £A&nbsp;1 banknote]] printed by the Commonwealth of Australia, among a collection of [[specimen banknote]]s. 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]].<ref name="20150505_ABC">{{cite news |first=Jordan |last=Hayne |date=5 May 2015 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-05/national-library-finds-australias-first-pound-note/6446022 |title=National Library finds Australia's first pound note, thought to be lost for nearly 80 years |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=2025-03-18 }}</ref>

===Gold standard===
[[File:Depression "bread wars", corner store on Riley and Fitzroy Streets, Surry Hills, Sydney, 21 August 1934 - Sam Hood (3705360895).jpg|thumb|left|A corner grocery store in Sydney in 1934 with prices in {{nowrap|shillings (/-)}} and {{nowrap|pence (d)}}]]
The Australian currency was fixed in value to [[Pound sterling|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 [[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===
During World War II, the [[Empire of Japan]] produced currency notes [[Japanese government-issued Oceanian Pound|denominated]] in the Australian pound for use in Pacific island countries intended for occupation. Since [[Proposed Japanese invasion of Australia during World War II|mainland Australia was never occupied]], the occupation currency was not used there, but it was used in the captured parts of the then-Australian territories of [[Territory of Papua|Papua]] and [[New Guinea]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rba.gov.au/Museum/Displays/1920_1960_comm_bank_and_note_issue/world_war2.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401072219/http://www.rba.gov.au/Museum/Displays/1920_1960_comm_bank_and_note_issue/world_war2.html|url-status=dead|title=The Commonwealth Bank and the note issue: 1920–1960 |archivedate=1 April 2010}}</ref>

===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]] countries with which Australia did most of its external trade at the time. As one pound sterling went from US$4.03 to US$2.80, the Australian pound went from US$3.224 to US$2.24.<ref>Historical rates derived from [http://users.erols.com/kurrency/au.htm "Tables of modern monetary history: Australia"], [http://users.erols.com/kurrency/asia.htm "Tables of modern monetary history: Asia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219231722/http://users.erols.com/kurrency/asia.htm |date=19 February 2007 }} (India's section), and [http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/etc/USDpages.pdf "Foreign Currency Units per 1 U.S. dollar, 1948–2005, PACIFIC Exchange Rate Service"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512095429/http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/etc/USDpages.pdf |date=12 May 2015 }}. Each source may contradict one another. The rates above are the "most plausible facts" derived from these web pages.</ref>

===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/abs@.nsf/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>

Under the implementation conversion rate, one pound was set as the equivalent of two dollars. Thus, ten shillings became one dollar, and one shilling became ten cents. As a shilling was equal to twelve pence, a cent was worth slightly more than a penny.

==Coins==
{{main|Coins of the Australian pound}}

In 1855, gold full and half sovereigns (worth, respectively, £1&nbsp; and 10/–&nbsp;sterling) were first minted by the Sydney Mint. These coins were the only non-Imperial denominations issued by any of the Australian mints until after Federation (the Sydney Mint struck Imperial gold sovereigns and half sovereigns starting in 1871, and the Melbourne Mint starting in 1872).

In 1910, .925 fineness [[sterling silver]] coins were minted in denominations of 3d, 6d, 1/– and 2/– (known as a ''Trey'', ''Zac'', ''Deena'', and ''[[Florin (Australian coin)|Florin]]'' respectively). Unusually no [[Half crown (British coin)|half crown]] (worth 2/6) was ever issued. Bronze {{frac|1|2}}d and 1d coins followed in 1911. Production of half sovereigns ceased in 1916, followed by that of sovereigns in 1931. In 1937 a crown (5/– piece, known as a ''Dollar'') was issued to commemorate the coronation of King [[George VI]]. This coin proved unpopular in circulation and was discontinued shortly after being reissued in 1938.

In 1946, the fineness of Australian silver sixpences, shillings, and florins was reduced to .500, a quarter of a century after the same change had been made in Britain. In New Zealand and the United Kingdom, silver was soon abandoned completely in everyday coinage, but Australian .500 silver coins continued to be minted until after decimalisation.

==Banknotes==

{{main|Banknotes of the Australian pound}}

Examples of private issue paper currency in New South Wales, denominated in sterling, exist from 1814 (and may date back to the 1790s).{{sfn|Pitt|2013|p=158}} Denominated in sterling (and in some cases [[Spanish dollar]]s), these private banker and merchant [[scrip]] notes were used in Sydney and Hobart through 1829.{{sfn|Pitt|2013|pp=158–59}} Private issue banknotes were issued between 1817 and 1910 in denominations ranging from £1 to £100.{{sfn|Pitt|2013|pp=163–175}} In 1910, [[Banknotes of the Australian pound#Superscribed banknotes (1910–1914)|superscribed banknotes]] were used as the Commonwealth's first national paper currency until the Treasury began issuing [[Banknotes of the Australian pound#Commonwealth banknotes of the Australian pound|Commonwealth banknotes]] in 1913. The Commonwealth Bank Act of 1920 gave note-issuing authority to the [[Commonwealth Bank]].

==See also==
* [[Australian dollar]]
* [[New Zealand pound]]
* [[British currency in Oceania]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist |30em}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin |30em |indent=yes}}
*{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eLjpnQEACAAJ |title= Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values|edition=25|publisher= Renniks Publications|isbn=978-0-9873386-2-4|editor-last=Pitt|editor-first=Michael T.|year=2013}}
{{refend}}

==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] – Online Coin Club

{{n-start}}
{{n-before|currency=[[Pound sterling|Sterling]]|ratio=at par}}
{{n-currency|location=[[Australia]]|start=1910|end=1966}}
{{n-after|currency=[[Australian dollar]]|reason=[[decimalisation]]|ratio=2 dollars = 1 pound}}
{{end}}

{{subject bar |auto=y |portal1=Australia |portal2=Money |portal3=Numismatics }}
{{Australian currency}}
{{Pound (currency)}}
{{Economy of Australia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Pound}}
[[Category:Pound (currency)]]
[[Category:1910 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:Currencies introduced in 1910]]
[[Category:Currencies of Australia]]
[[Category:Currencies of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Currencies of Papua New Guinea]]
[[Category:Currencies with multiple banknote issuers]]
[[Category:Modern obsolete currencies]]
[[Category:1966 disestablishments in Australia]]
[[Category:Economic history of Australia|Pound, Australian]]
[[Category:Financial history of Australia]]