The $2 coin was first introduced on 20 June 1988. Planning for a $2 coin commenced around the same time as that for the $1 coin. Like the $1 coin, the $2 coin replaced the note of the same denomination which had a short service life through high use.

A number of designers were invited to contribute designs for the $2 based on a design brief to include a representation of the head and shoulders of a traditional Australian Aboriginal, a representation of the Southern Cross and a representation of Australian flora. The selected design was prepared by Mr Horst Hahne, with inspiration taken from a drawing by Mr Ainslie Roberts.

The size of the $2 was determined after consideration of the needs of the visually impaired community, security considerations, a desire to avoid shaped coins, practical limitations to the diameter and thickness of coins, and to allow for future expansion of Australia's circulating coin array. When introduced, it was necessary to accommodate this new coin with seven existing denominations.

Composition: 92% copper, 6% aluminium, 2% nickel.

All $2 coins have been struck at the Royal Australian Mint.

Australian decimal coins have carried four portraits of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second.

The inclusion of an effigy of the Queen on the obverse of Australia's coinage is mandated by Regulation 4 (c) of the Currency Regulations made under the Currency Act 1965. Portraits of Her Majesty have all faced to the right in line with a convention, said to have commenced with Charles II (1660-1685), that the new Monarch's portrait would face in a direction opposite to that of their predecessor.

The reverse design includes a representation of the head and shoulders of a traditional Australian Aboriginal, a representation of the Southern Cross and a representation of Australian flora.

If you keep your coins in 2x2 cardboard holders, the best size for two dollar coins is 22.5mm.