The image of the late Queen was created by Jody Clark, a famous British printmaker. Photo: Royal Australian Mint
Australia honors Queen Elizabeth II with a new $5 coin featuring the late monarch on one side and depicting Aboriginal heritage and the history of the convicts on the other.
New coin released by the Royal Australian Mint should be released into circulation. September 7, the eve of the death anniversary of the late Queen.
It was opened in Sydney's Hyde Park Barracks, a site built by the British to house prisoners after the New South Wales penal colony. was founded in 1788.
The coin depicts the sandstone barracks, as well as other World Heritage-listed prisons, where shackled prisoners were forced to do hard work in cruel conditions.
< p>Australia has 11 UNESCO-recognized detention facilities from Fremantle. from Western Australia to Tasmania and the terrible penal settlement of Norfolk Island in the Pacific. Over 80 years, over 166,000 men, women and children have been exiled to Australia as convicts.
AUSTRALIAN COIN
Some of the British Empire's most notorious convicts were sent to Port Arthur, one of the places depicted on the coin. It was difficult to get out of the former logging station, surrounded by water.
The convicts were regularly beaten with a whip and herded into tiny «isolation» cells, where they were not allowed to speak if they violated prison rules.
Fremantle remained an active prison until 1991, when it was closed after riots caused by conditions in the prison, as a result of which the guards were captured and taken hostage.
The new coin also features other Australian World Heritage Sites, from the Sydney Opera House to the Great Barrier Reef. Also represented are the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia and the tropical rain forests of northern Queensland.
The country's Aboriginal heritage is represented by images of ancient settlements and an image of a handprint, a sign. that Aboriginal people once left on cave walls and on flagstones across the continent.
Reverence for Aboriginal culture comes as Australians prepare to vote in a referendum on 14 October on whether to provide Aboriginal people with a consultation mechanism Parliament on matters of policy that affect them.
Supporters say the so-called «Voice of Parliament» is long overdue, while opponents argue that it will split Australia along racial lines without doing anything to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who make up the most disadvantaged part of society.
Some of the worst prisoners in the British Empire were sent to Port Arthur, one of the places depicted on the coin. Photo: Gerhard Zwerger-Schöner
They suffer from high levels of unemployment, imprisonment, suicide and domestic violence, and on average live about eight years less than other Australians.
In a referendum, Australians will be asked to vote up or down on whether «the constitution should be changed to recognize the First Nations of Australia, creating an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice». '.
The image of the late queen was created by Jody Clark, a renowned British engraver who created portraits of the monarch for British coinage.
The coin is likely to be welcomed by royalists, especially after a decision earlier this year, the Reserve Bank of Australia banned the image of the king Charles on the new $5 note.
Professor Richard McKay, former Chair of Australia's World Heritage Advisory Committee, said: «This amazing coin highlights the diversity of Australia's world heritage and will help raise awareness of our unique biodiversity, deep connections indigenous peoples with a country and outstanding cultural sites.”
Andrew Lee, government minister, said: “As Australians, we are lucky to live in a country with such natural beauty. By marking Australia's World Heritage Sites with this collectible coin, the Royal Australian Mint is doing its part to spread the word about our magnificent natural and man-made heritage.»
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