5 Dollars - Elizabeth II 3rd Portrait - Charles Sturt - Masterpieces in Silver

Charles Sturt led his 1844–46 expedition into the Australian interior convinced he would find a vast inland sea at the continent's centre. He found instead the Stony Desert, temperatures exceeding 132°F, and conditions so extreme that his party was pinned in a dried creek bed for six months waiting for rain. The expedition broke his health permanently.

This piece is part of the RAM's Masterpieces in Silver series, which ran through the early 1990s honouring Australian explorers. Struck in sterling rather than the .999 fine silver used in later commemorative programs.