HEADS YOU WIN, TAILS YOU WIN
We look back to a time when one coin went a long way
UNTIL 1984, there was no such thing as a one dollar coin – the currency was worth so much it was confined to notes. Since then rising prices have chipped away at the dollar’s value so much that for some people, the shiny gold coin is chump change. But the Gold Coast
Bulletin is putting the value back into a dollar with our amazing new subscriber offer.
A DOLLAR used to go a long way on the Gold Coast back in the mid-1980s.
It was the age of Bob Hawke as Prime Minister, Knots Landing and Dallas on TV and cheap goods and services.
A quick scan of the Bulletin’s archives reveals just how far you could stretch a fistful of dollars in the city’s shops, restaurants and bottleos.
The year was 1985 and Gold Coasters were just getting used to their gold $1 coins, which were introduced a year earlier to replace the paper notes.
But there were plenty of things locals were spending those small gold coins on, with Gold Coasters grabbing up bargains including:
• 500g of Meadow Lea margarine for $1, while a 750g box of VitaBrits cereal was 99c.
• Table meals, including homemade steak and kidney pies, which were $1.50 at Benowa Tavern.
• Sides of Hogget, $1/kg at West Burleigh’s The Meat Factory
• A 200g block of Cadbury dairy milk chocolate, which was $1 at Kmart, while a regular block was just 39c.
• A cup of coffee or tea, 50c at Charlie’s in Surfers Paradise, while a threecourse meal at David Fung’s Chinese restaurant at Labrador was $5.10.
• A bottle of Sauvignon, $5.34 Rob’s Cellars.
• A house and land package in Southport was $44,400 while you could rent a TV for $3.95 and VHS player for $6.91 at Rentlo Video.
• Even the clothes were cheap – a singlet was $1.99 at Scarborough Fair Shopping Centre, later known as Australia Fair.
• Men’s lace-up shoes were $3.99 at Vic Jensens family shoe stores.
• A bottle of
Port was $4.99 Runaway Bay Hotel.
• Four lamb shanks were $1.50 at Mastermeats.
• A men’s haircut at Stefan was $9.95.
With stats like that, understandable to want bring back those days.
But you can get a hint of that 80s-era value in 2017 thanks to a hot new offer from the Bulletin.
From today you can subscribe to the paper for just $1 a day for the first six months, including home delivery plus full digital access to the Bulletin’s website.
Conditions
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