Halfpenny - Kangaroo, Coin Type from Australia - detailed information

The Australian halfpenny (or half penny) coin was the smallest circulating denomination of the Australian Pound; unlike the British pre-decimal Pound Sterling, the Australian Pound had no smaller denominations like the British farthings and fractional farthings.

The Australian halfpenny has the same dimensions and composition as the British pre-decimal halfpenny, from which it is derived (for a time, the coins circulated in parallel and were interchangeable in Australia - but not in the United Kingdom; the currencies were fixed at par). 1/2 penny was worth 1/24 of a shilling, or 1/480 of a pound.

The reverse of the first type of Australian halfpenny coins featured text only. In 1939, this new design by George Kruger Gray superseded it - featuring the iconic leaping kangaroo.

The coins were struck by a number of different mints, with various mint marks:
- Melbourne Mint, 1939 - 1959, no mint mark
- Bombay Mint, 1942 - 1943, dots before and after the denomination: .HALF PENNY., plus letter I on the obverse
- Perth Mint, 1942 - 1964, dot after the denomination: HALF PENNY. or a high dot after AUSTRALIA
- Royal Mint, 1951, letters PL
- Birmingham Mint (ex Heaton and Sons), 1951, letters PL (as subcontractor for the Royal Mint)

Counting the known mintages of proofs, a total of 341,725,324 (341 million) coins of this type were minted during its existence. They circulated until decimalisation and were withdrawn in 1966, when Australia switched to its current Australian Dollar currency. Unlike some of the larger denominations, they were not re-denominated into units of the new currency. However the halfpenny coins were never formally demonetised and are still legal tender for 5⁄12¢.