1 Dollar - Elizabeth II 4th Portrait - Friendship with China

Issued to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and the People's Republic of China, established in December 1972 when the Whitlam government moved swiftly — within days of Labor's election victory — to normalise ties that had been frozen since the communist victory in 1949. The pad-printing technique applied to the coin's surface was still relatively novel in Australian commemorative production at this date, allowing color application without the adhesion failures associated with earlier enamel methods.