Silver Ounce 2022 Wallal Centenary, Domed, Coin from Australia - detailed information

The Australian one ounce silver piece (abbreviated as 1 oz and designated with Ag for "silver") is a bullion and commemorative coin format. Uniquely, in Australia there are two mints authorised to strike legal tender: the Royal Australian Mint (which also makes the country's circulating coinage) and the Perth Mint which only makes collector and bullion coins, as well as other bullion products.

Both mints endeavour to create coins with attractive designs, and to introduce new designs and themes often, in order to raise the numismatic value of the coins over the value of previous metal used.

In 1922, the eyes of the international scientific community were focused on an expedition of scientists to Wallal, Western Australia to photograph a total eclipse due on 21 September. Precise measurements of the apparent position of the stars near the eclipsed Sun were photographed and provided the evidence supporting Einstein’s revolutionary Theory of General Relativity.

The expedition was organised to conclusively prove Einstein’s theory following the first photographic evidence captured during the 29 May 1919 eclipse expedition led by Sir Arthur Eddington. Teams from multiple countries as well as local astronomers from the Perth Observatory formed the 1922 expedition led by William Campbell from the Lick Observatory (USA), who were successful in taking the images of the eclipse that provided the evidence to support Einstein’s theory.

The theory states that massive objects, such as planets and stars, curve the fabric of space and time around them. The theory predicts that light from a distant star passing near the Sun will follow the curve as it travels to the Earth, making the star appear to be displaced in the sky; it even predicts by how much the stars will appear to be out of place. Normally stars near the Sun are overwhelmed by the bright sky but during a solar eclipse, the Moon obscures the Sun, creating a sky dark enough that stars can be photographed. The Theory of General Relativity predicted the existence of black holes and gravitational waves.