The humpback whale (*Megaptera novaeangliae*) was listed as endangered under Australian law for decades following the near-collapse of Southern Hemisphere populations during the 20th-century pelagic whaling period. Recovery has been substantial — east Australian populations are now estimated above 40,000 — but the species remains listed under the EPBC Act. The "6th Portrait" designation refers to Jody Clark's effigy of Elizabeth II, introduced globally from 2015 and the last definitive portrait approved before her death in September 2022, making 2023 issues the first struck posthumously under that obverse.
The humpback whale (*Megaptera novaeangliae*) was listed as endangered under Australian law for decades following the near-collapse of Southern Hemisphere populations during the 20th-century pelagic whaling period. Recovery has been substantial — east Australian populations are now estimated above 40,000 — but the species remains listed under the EPBC Act. The "6th Portrait" designation refers to Jody Clark's effigy of Elizabeth II, introduced globally from 2015 and the last definitive portrait approved before her death in September 2022, making 2023 issues the first struck posthumously under that obverse.