Spanish dollars, Indian rupees, European ducats, Dutch gilders and British coins were all used as currency in the early days of Sydney. In 1812 Governor Macquarie imported 40,000 Spanish dollars and had a hole punched out in each coin – the holey dollar was worth 5 shillings and the dump 15 pence. However the colony was still short of coins and the use of IOU notes and trading in rum continued.

Australia’s gold rush in the early 1850s produced a new form of currency, unrefined gold. So big was the black market that its circulation was undermining the economy and the Sydney Mint, the first overseas branch of the Royal Mint, was established in 1855 to control the currency.

The Sydney Mint produced gold sovereigns and half sovereigns for all the Australian colonies and New Zealand – these coins were marked ‘Sydney Mint Australia’ or, after 1870, marked with a small ‘S’ for Sydney. The Sydney Mint was closed in 1926 as other mints had opened in Melbourne and Perth and the currency was changing to copper and silver coins.