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1 Shilling - Elizabeth II 1st Portrait - with 'F:D:'
| Issuer | Royal Australian Mint |
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| Year | 1955-1963 |
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| Engraver(s) | Obverse: Mary Gillick Reverse: George Kruger Gray |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and draped effigy of Queen Elizabeth II facing right, modelled by Mary Gillick, occupying the central field. The Queen's hair is arranged in an upswept coiffure adorned with a wreath of laurel, with delicate detail visible at the nape of the neck. A continuous Latin legend surrounds the effigy, separated by a raised beaded border at the rim. The inscription includes the title abbreviations DEI GRATIA REGINA and FIDEI DEFENSOR rendered as F·D·, the latter inclusion being the distinguishing feature of this issue type. |
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| Obverse lettering | +ELIZABETH·II·DEI·GRATIA·REGINA·F:D: (Translation: Elizabeth II by the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith) |
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| Additional information |
Australia's pre-decimal silver coinage of this period used a .500 fineness established by the 1946 coinage reform, which halved the silver content of circulating coins as postwar metal costs made the earlier .925 standard economically unworkable. The "F:D:" abbreviation — Fidei Defensor, Defender of the Faith — was dropped from some Commonwealth coinage after India became a republic in 1950, prompting individual territories to make their own decisions about the title. Australia retained it.
Production shifted to the Royal Australian Mint's predecessor facility in Melbourne throughout this run. The series ended abruptly when Australia committed to decimalization in 1963, with the new system eventually introduced in February 1966.