The Perth Mint’s celebrate Australia $1 2010 coins to commemorate stunning Australian landscapes and marine environments inscribed on the World Heritage List. The coins are available individually, the coins can also be acquired in special five-coin pack. The coin sets celebrate 5 of Australia famous heritage sites; The Greater Blue Mountains, Great Barrier Reef, Heard Island & McDonald Islands, Shark Bay and The Tasmanian Wilderness. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2000, the Greater Blue Mountains just to the west of Sydney consist of more than one million spectacular hectares of sandstone plateaux, escarpments and gorges dominated by temperate eucalypti forest. The coin’s reverse depicts the Three Sisters rock formation from Echo Point in colour. The design includes a Blue Mountains Tree Frog, an inhabitant of the region’s rocky rivers and streams.
Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981, the world’s largest coral reef system abounds with marine life including 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish, 400 species of sponges and beautiful marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and dugongs. The coin’s reverse depicts a representation of tropical corals in colour. The design includes a green sea turtle, one of six species of protected marine turtle that occur in Australian waters.
Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997, the pristine ecosystem of these sub-Antarctic islands in the stormy waters of the Southern Ocean 4,000 kilometres south-west of Perth is largely unaffected by human activity or introduced species. The coin’s coloured reverse represents the Islands’ rugged landscape. The design includes macaroni penguins, one of several species that breed there.
Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991, Shark Bay, an area of 2.3 million hectares on the most westerly edge of the Australian continent, is the remarkable meeting point for tropical, desert and temperate climatic regions. The coin’s coloured reverse symbolises sea grass in Shark Bay’s sun-warmed waters. The design includes a dugong, a wonderful inhabitant of an area teeming with marine life.
Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982, the Tasmanian Wilderness, a rugged landscape shaped by glaciers, comprises parks and reserves representing one of the last large temperate wilderness regions in the Southern Hemisphere. The coin’s coloured reverse symbolises a waterfall in a primeval Tasmanian forest. The design includes an Eastern quoll, a marsupial considered to be extinct on mainland Australia.
Obverse: Issued as legal tender under the Australian Currency Act 1965, the coin bears the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
This coin is available online at The Perth Mint website. The coin is housed on an eye-catching presentation card which has a fold-out stand for upright display.
Source: Perth Mint, Wikipedia
