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1 Dollar - Elizabeth II 3rd Portrait - The Holey Dollar
| Issuer | Royal Australian Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1988 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Dollar |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The central annular field depicts Yulunggul, the Rainbow Serpent of Aboriginal mythology, rendered in a stylised idiom with cross-hatched scale patterning coiling around the central circular void. The serpent's head appears at the upper right, its body encircling the perforation in a continuous loop. The surrounding legend reads ONE OUNCE · THE HOLEY DOLLAR · 999 SILVER 1988, separated by raised bullet stops and enclosed within a beaded border, evoking the original 1813 Holey Dollar issued by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. |
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| Additional information |
The original Holey Dollar was created in 1813 when Governor Lachlan Macquarie, facing a chronic coin shortage in the colony of New South Wales, ordered 40,000 Spanish Colonial eight reales punched through the center. Each parent coin yielded two new pieces — the ring became the Holey Dollar, valued at five shillings, while the central disc, called the Dump, circulated at fifteen pence. The mutilation also made re-export profitable: a Spanish dollar worth around four shillings and ninepence in trade was suddenly worth six shillings and threepence combined, discouraging merchants from draining the colony's currency.
This 1988 issue commemorates the bicentenary of European settlement in Australia. The punched-out center deliberately replicates the original's distinctive form.