In the first release from the new Australia Remembers series, the Royal Australian Mint has introduced the Australian Services Nurses 20c Uncirculated Coin.
The commemorative coin design, by W. Pietranik, portrays a wounded "Aussie Digger" (Australian soldier) comforted and nursed back to health.
Military nursing in Australia was established in 1899. In January 1900 fourteen nurses set off from Sydney for the Boer War. Australian Services Nurses have since served in both world wars, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bougainville, East Timor, and most recently in the Gulf and Afghanistan conflicts.
Priced at $6.95 (AUD), the uncirculated coin is composed of copper and nickel. It weighs 11.30 grams, has a diameter of 28.52 millimeter and will be minted based on demand. The international price is set at $6.32 (AUD).
The coins are available through the Royal Australian Mint online store. Each is within themed packaging that includes coin specifications and a brief overview of the Australia Remembers series and Australian Services Nurses.
According to the Mint, the Australian Remembers series will "explore Australian war experiences and military history behind and beyond the battlefields." No announcement has been made yet about the next release in the series.
About the Royal Australian Mint
His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, officially opened the Royal Australian Mint, Canberra, on Monday 22nd February 1965. The Mint was commissioned to produce Australia’s decimal coinage, which was to be introduced into circulation on 14th February 1966. The Royal Australian Mint holds a place in history as the first mint in Australia not to be a branch of the Royal Mint, London.
Since opening in 1965 the Mint has produced over eleven billion circulating coins and has the capacity to produce over two million coins per day, or over six hundred million coins per year.
The Royal Australian Mint has struck coins for a number of South Pacific nations. Export coins were first struck in 1969 for New Zealand and, since then, coins have been produced for Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Western Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh, Israel and Tokelau.
