1 Dollar - Elizabeth II 2nd portrait, Black Stilt

The Black Stilt — kaki in Māori — was chosen for this dollar at a moment when its wild population had collapsed to somewhere around 23 birds, making it arguably the rarest wading bird on earth. New Zealand's Wildlife Service had only recently begun a captive breeding programme at Twizel, and the coin's release coincided with a period of genuine alarm among ornithologists about whether the species could be pulled back at all.

This was the second year of the large-format dollar series that replaced the one-dollar note, phased out in 1978.