Australian coin for late Queen has convict sites on flip side

AUSTRALIA has honoured Queen Elizabeth II with a new $5 coin featuring the late monarch on one side and depictions of Aboriginal heritage and convict history on the other.

The new coin, produced by the Royal Australian Mint, is to be released on Sept 7, on the eve of the anniversary of Elizabeth II’s death.

It was unveiled at Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney, which was built by the British to house convicts after the penal colony of New South Wales was established in 1788.

The sandstone barracks feature on the coin, along with other World Heritage-listed convict sites, where prisoners in shackles were made to perform hard labour in brutal conditions.

Australia has 11 Unesco-recognised convict sites, from Fremantle in Western Australia to Tasmania and the dreaded penal settlement on Norfolk Island in the Pacific. More than 166,000 men, women and children were banished as convicts to Australia over a period of 80 years.

Some of the worst convicts of the British Empire were sent to Port Arthur, one of the sites featured on the coin. Surrounded by water, the former timber station was difficult to escape from while convicts were regularly whipped and beaten. Those who broke the rules were forced into tiny “isolation” cells, where they were not allowed to speak, read or write.

Fremantle remained a functioning jail until 1991, when it was shut after a series of riots over prison conditions that saw guards captured and then taken hostage.

Australia’s other World Heritage sites are also featured on the new coin, from the Sydney Opera House to the Great Barrier Reef. The Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia and the tropical rainforests of northern Queensland are also represented.

The country’s Aboriginal heritage is shown by depictions of ancient Aboriginal settlements and an image of a handprint, a mark that Aborigines once left on the walls of caves and on rock slabs across the continent.

The honouring of Aboriginal culture comes as Australians prepare to vote in an Oct 14 referendum on whether to grant indigenous people a mechanism for advising parliament on policies that affect them.

Supporters say the so-called “Voice to Parliament” is long overdue, while opponents argue it will split Australia along racial lines without improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who are the most disadvantaged section of society. They suffer high rates of unemployment, imprisonment, suicide and domestic violence and, on average, live around eight years less than other Australians.

In the referendum, Australians will be asked to vote yes or no on whether to “alter the constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice”.

The image of the late Queen on the new coin was designed by a renowned British engraver, Jody Clark, who has previously produced portraits of the monarch that have featured on British coinage.

The coin is likely to be welcomed by royalists, particularly in the wake of a decision taken earlier this year by the Reserve Bank of Australia not to feature an image of the King on a new $5 bank note. Prof Richard Mackay, a former chairman of Australia’s World Heritage Advisory Committee, said: “This amazing coin highlights the diversity of Australia’s internationally significant heritage and will encourage awareness of our unique biodiversity, [and] deep indigenous connections with... cultural places.”

Andrew Leigh, a minister in the Australian government, said: “As Australians we’re fortunate to live in a country with so much natural beauty.

“By celebrating Australia’s World Heritage sites through this collectible coin, the Royal Australian Mint is doing its bit to help the spread the word about our magnificent natural and built heritage.”