5 Dollars - Elizabeth II 3rd Portrait - Ludwig Leichhardt - Masterpieces in Silver

Ludwig Leichhardt's 1844–45 overland expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington — nearly 5,000 kilometres through unmapped interior Queensland and the Northern Territory — was considered so improbable that many in Sydney assumed the party dead before they arrived. He vanished entirely on a second transcontinental attempt in 1848, and no physical trace of that expedition has ever been conclusively identified.

This issue belongs to the Royal Australian Mint's Masterpieces in Silver series, which packaged proof strikes with historical themes for the collector market through the early-to-mid 1990s.