WHEN AUSTRALIA ADOPTED THE DOLLAR

 

It was a jingle that became firmly stuck in the minds of people across Australia.

In come the dollars, and in come the cents.

To replace the pounds and the shillings and the pence.

Set to the tune of Click Go the Shears, the earworm was sung by animated cartoon character Dollar Bill to educate the public about the transition from imperial to decimal currency.

The changeover, dubbed C-Day, happened 60 years ago on February 14, 1966.

It was a major logistical operation but an important economic decision for Australia.

Most of the world had already switched to decimal currency and the old system of shillings and pence was overly complicated.

To make the transition to decimalisation as smooth as possible, an enormous publicity and education campaign flooded all forms of media for the two years prior.

A public competition was held to name the new currency.

"Some of them were very creative and very Australian, like the Kanga or the Roo," Royal Australian Mint CEO Emily Martin said.

Other options, including the Austral, Oz and Dinkum were floated.

"The government actually announced that they would call the new currency the Royal, but there was massive public backlash about that, so eventually they settled on the dollar," Ms Martin said.

 
The cover of an old book that argued against the change to decimalisation

Cash registers, petrol pumps, vending machines and even public toilets had to be converted to accept the new currency.

Banks experienced a rush in the lead-up to the changeover as people exchanged their pounds for dollars.

"On the day, we did hear stories of people being very curious about these new coins, a bit suspicious that perhaps shopkeepers might be ripping them off or changing the prices," Ms Martin said.

"But very quickly, within a matter of months, Australians had adapted to the new currency.

"It is actually considered one of the most successful implementations of a huge changeover in Australia's history and many other countries actually looked at what we did."

To read the complete article, see:
Remember Dollar Bill? It's been 60 years since Australia made the big change to decimal currency (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-14/australia-marks-60-years-since-switching-to-decimal-currency/106328652)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web