Australian twenty-cent coin Australian twenty-cent coin The Australian twenty-cent coin of the Australian decimal currency system was issued with conversion to decimal currency on 14 February 1966, replacing the florin which was worth two shillings – a tenth of a pound. (The Australian pound was converted to two Australian dollars.) To date, three different obverse face designs have been used: from 1966 to 1984, the head of Queen Elizabeth II by Arnold Machin; from 1985 to 1998, the head by Raphael Maklouf; and since 1999, the head by Ian Rank-Broadley. The obverse has the inscription AUSTRALIA and the year-of-issue on the right hand
Decimal Day remain valid back to 1971, the only circulating coins valid on Decimal Day still to be valid. In 1982, the word "new" in "new penny" or "new pence" was removed from the inscriptions on coins, to be replaced by the number of pence in the denomination (i.e. "ten pence" or "fifty pence"). This coincided with the introduction of a new 20p coin, which, from the outset, simply bore the legend "twenty pence". A £1 coin was introduced in 1983, and a £2 coin in 1997. When the old pounds, shillings, and pence system was in operation, the United Kingdom and