Fifty Cents 2023 Sydney Opera House, Coin from Australia - detailed information

The Australian 50 cent denomination was first introduced as a silver coin with decimalisation on 14 February 1966, but was changed in 1969 to its current specifications: a large dodecagonal (12-sided) copper-nickel coin; apart from the usual design featuring the Australian Coat of Arms, the denomination is also extensively used to issue circulating commemorative coins with various reverses. It is one of the heaviest coins in regular circulation in the world.

Apart from circulating coins, the Royal Australian Mint has a range of Non-Circulating Legal Tender (NCLT) 50 cent coins issued for collectors, such as this one.

This coin is part of a Royal Australian Mint mini-series commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Sydney Opera House.

The mint says about it:
The Sydney Opera House has been a source of wonder since it was a sketch on a page. In 1954, the then NSW Premier, Joseph Cahill, promised a structure that would be a credit to the state for hundreds of years. Then, from a small coastal town in Denmark came a vision from architect Jorn Utzon that would forever change the face of Sydney.

Now a symbol of modern Australia, the Sydney Opera House has more than repaid the conviction of Utzon and Australian architect Peter Hall, who transformed these dreams into the creative masterpiece that stands today. When the building finally opened its doors in October 1973, a new era of creativity and connection began.

Five decades later, the Opera House is everyone’s house. It is the nation’s premier tourist destination, one of the world’s busiest performing arts centres and a community meeting place that belongs to all Australians. To visit Bennelong Point is to encounter a story of contemporary experience that continues to renew itself each day.

As the Sydney Opera House turns 50 in 2023, we celebrate the extraordinary past, present and future of Australia’s favourite building. A World Heritage-listed masterpiece of “human creative genius”, from conception to completion, the building tested the limits of engineering, construction and design. Now, after half a century of creativity and a Decade of Renewal that transformed the building for the 21st century, the stage is set for the next era.