I begin with a confession.
Sixty years ago, Australia came perilously close to having a currency called 'the royal'.
Imagine it. You go to the café and order a flat white. 'That'll be 4 royals, thanks.' You give your child pocket money - 'Here's a royal, don't spend it all at once.' A Royal Admirer could be either a loyal monarchist or a coin collector.
This was not a fringe proposal. In 1963, Prime Minister Menzies announced that Australia's new decimal currency would indeed be called the royal. The public reaction was swift and unforgiving. Letters poured in. Editorials bristled. Australians, it turned out, were perfectly happy to modernise their currency - but they were not prepared to sound like extras in a medieval drama.
Within weeks, the government changed course. The royal was quietly retired before it was even born. In its place came something simpler, sturdier, more practical and more democratic - the dollar.
It was a reminder of an enduring truth in public policy: you can change the numbers, but you cannot ignore the people.
When decimal currency arrived on 14 February 1966, it marked one of the boldest economic transitions in Australia's modern history. For more than half a century, Australians had used pounds, shillings and pence - a system so intricate that it required the mathematical dexterity of a chess grandmaster and the patience of a saint.
There were 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound, and absolutely no obvious reason why.
Children learned it in school. Shopkeepers carried conversion charts. Ordinary Australians performed mental arithmetic every time they bought groceries. Decimalisation swept all that away. Suddenly, money made intuitive sense. Ten cents meant 10 cents. One hundred cents meant a dollar. Introduced on Valentine's Day, it was a monetary system you could love. The national blood pressure dropped several points overnight.
This transformation was the product of meticulous planning and one of the most successful public education campaigns Australia has ever seen.
Anyone alive back then will remember Dollar Bill - the cheerful cartoon character who bounded across television screens explaining the new system. He sang his way into the national consciousness with a rhyme to the tune of 'Click Go the Shears':
'In come the dollars and in come the cents
To replace the pounds and the shillings and the pence
Be prepared folks when the coins begin to mix
On the 14th of February 1966'
It was catchy. It was effective. I was born 6 years later, but I remember my parents singing this tune to me as a child - passing on the earworm (thanks mum and dad).
And it may be the only time in Australian history that a currency reform produced a musical hit.
The changeover itself was remarkably smooth. On Decimal Day, Australians lined up at banks and shops to exchange their old currency. The new coins passed quickly into circulation. Within weeks, dollars and cents had become second nature.
What is striking, looking back, is how much confidence Australians placed in this national project. Decimalisation was a declaration that Australia was a modern, outward‑looking economy, ready to engage with the world on clear and consistent terms.
Decimal currency simplified trade. It reduced friction in everyday transactions. It aligned Australia with the global financial system. It was, in every sense, a reform that paid dividends.
Our coins have always been more than instruments of commerce. They are artefacts of national identity. They carry our symbols, our stories and our sense of ourselves.
And none more so than the one‑dollar coin.
Since 1984, Australians have carried in their pockets Stuart Devlin's elegant design of 5 kangaroos in motion - the 'Mob of Roos'. It is a fitting emblem. The kangaroo moves forward with purpose. It does not walk backwards. It embodies progress.
Although, as any Australian motorist knows, the kangaroo occasionally chooses exactly the wrong moment to demonstrate that progress.
Today, I am delighted to announce a special addition to that familiar design.
To mark 60 years of decimal currency, the Mint has released a commemorative circulating one‑dollar coin featuring not 5 kangaroos, but 6.
One kangaroo for each decade of decimal currency.
It is a subtle change. You might not notice it at first glance. But like decimalisation itself, it represents something significant. It reminds us that our currency evolves alongside our nation.
This coin is now in circulation. It will pass from hand to hand. It will appear in wallets, tip jars and children's moneyboxes. Somewhere, a collector will already be searching for one. Somewhere else, someone will unknowingly spend one on a sausage roll.
That is part of the quiet beauty of circulating commemorative coins. They do not sit behind glass. They live in the community.
As we celebrate 60 years of decimal currency, we do so at a time of extraordinary technological change.
Australians today tap their phones to pay. We transfer money in seconds. Many young Australians have never written a cheque and would regard balancing a chequebook as an obscure historical ritual, somewhere between using a fax machine and winding up a gramophone.
Yet physical currency continues to matter.
Coins and notes provide resilience. They function when power fails. They support inclusion. They offer certainty in moments of disruption.
They also carry meaning in ways digital transactions cannot. A coin can become a keepsake. It can spark curiosity. It can connect generations.
Many Australians still remember their first dollar. Some remember the coins their grandparents gave them. These small objects carry large stories.
Our responsibility in government is to ensure that Australia's currency remains secure, reliable and responsive to the needs of the public. That means embracing innovation while preserving resilience. It means supporting digital payments while maintaining access to cash.
And it means supporting institutions like the Mint, which combines technological excellence with cultural stewardship.
The Mint is not just Canberra's biggest manufacturing operation. It is a storyteller in metal. With each coin it produces, it captures a fragment of our national journey.
Sixty years ago, decimalisation reflected a country ready to modernise, ready to simplify, ready to move forward.
Today, as Australians discover a sixth kangaroo bounding across their dollar coin, they encounter a small but meaningful tribute to that legacy.
It is a reminder that progress often arrives quietly. Not with fanfare, but with steady steps.
And it is a reminder that sometimes, the most important changes are the ones that end up feeling completely natural.
After all, it is hard to imagine Australia today using pounds, shillings and pence.
And harder still to imagine paying for anything with a royal.
Thank you, and keep your eyes peeled for the sixth roo.
