Developing a currency for New South Wales
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Early currency in New South Wales was somewhat troubled and unstable, with its beginnings in bartering and cut dollars, later followed by the New South Wales 'Rum Corps' that introduced Rum as the most common currency after 1793. Following the Rum Rebellion in 1808, New South Wales was appointed its revolutionary Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810 and, after disintegrating the Rum commerce in New South Wales, the 'Holey Dollar' was introduced in 1813. Made from re-stamping Spanish Dollars, Macquarie appointed emancipated convict William Henshall, who had been transported for counterfeiting coins, to oversee the project.
The Holey Dollar was eventually replaced by the British Pound by Governor Darling, and by the 30th September 1829 was the nation's legal tender. In 1901, The new Constitution gave the Australian Government the responsibility for all national banking including the issue of currency notes and coins, however their denominations remained modeled on the British currency system.
Australia received the final change to its currency in 1966 when Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies introduced a conversion from pounds to the decimal system and the Australian Dollar and the new notes and coins with their proudly Australian designs replaced the Pound.
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