Loonie the banknote forced acceptance of the coin. The loonie has subsequently gained iconic status within Canada, and is now regarded as a national symbol. The term "loonie" has since become synonymous with the Canadian dollar itself. The town of Echo Bay, Ontario, home of Robert-Ralph Carmichael, erected a large loonie monument in his honour in 1992 along the highway, similar to Sudbury's 'Big Nickel'. Officials for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics invited the National Hockey League's ice making consultant, Dan Craig, to oversee the city's E Center arena, where the ice hockey tournament was being held. Craig invited a
Australian one dollar coin a number of commemorative issued coins since the Australian $1 was released in 1984, some of which were not released into circulation. Australian one dollar coin The Australian one dollar coin is the second-most-valuable circulation denomination coin of the Australian dollar after the two-dollar coin; there are also non-circulating legal-tender coins of higher denominations (five-, ten-, two-hundred-dollar coins and the one-million-dollar coin). It was first issued on 14 May 1984 to replace the one-dollar note which was then in circulation, although plans to introduce a dollar coin had existed since the mid-1970s. The first year of minting saw 186.3 million