One lucky coin enthusiast was able to make history at the Royal Australian Mint today, pressing and taking home the first coin for 2023, not only in Australia, but around the world.
The Royal Australian Mint CEO Leigh Gordon welcomed back keen coin collectors for the first time since the start of the COVID pandemic.
“After a two-year hiatus, we are excited to bring back this annual tradition and have members of the public gather in person to collect the first coins, as well as observe the exciting new theme of the collection - Creatures of the Deep,” Mr Gordon said.
“This year, we collaborated with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, to showcase the incredible discoveries of scientists aboard the CSIRO’s research vessel Investigator.”
The newly released 2023 coin collection will celebrate the CSIRO’s flagship vessel, as well as rarely seen deep sea creatures including bigfin squid, brittle star, dumbo octopus, gold coral, blob fish or tripodfish, cactus urchin and the spiny king crab.
CSIRO Acting CEO, Professor Elanor Huntington said the discoveries were made during several voyages along Australia’s southern and eastern coastline, reaching some of Australia’s deepest marine habitats.
"So much of our deep ocean remains a mystery – we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about our deepest oceans. This area is one of the least explored areas on the planet, with depths of up to 6km below sea level,” Professor Huntington said.
“The 2023 new coin collection highlights these collaborative voyages and the significant contribution they have made to better understand life in our oceans.”
An image of Queen Elizabeth II features on the other side of the coins and includes the dates 1952 to 2022, which are the dates of Queen Elizabeth II reign.
