Ten Dollars Silver 1990 Western Australia, Coin from Australia - detailed information

The regular circulating coinage of Australia includes coins from 5 cents up to two dollars. Apart from those, the Royal Australian Mint also issues non-circulating coins for collectors, some of which are made of silver and denominated as $10 (ten dollars). These are not bullion, since they are sold at prices much higher than the intrinsic value of the precious metal they contain.

This coin is part of a series which represents the individual States and Territories of the Commonwealth of Australia, and features the Coat of Arms of Western Australia.

Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western 33 percent of the land area of Australia, excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of 2,527,013 square kilometres. It is the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic.

The first Europeans to visit Western Australia belonged to the Dutch Dirk Hartog expedition, who visited the Western Australian coast in 1616. The first permanent European colony of Western Australia occurred following the landing by Major Edmund Lockyer on 26 December 1826 of an expedition on behalf of the New South Wales colonial government. Lockyer established a convict-supported military garrison at King George III Sound, at present-day Albany, and on 21 January 1827 he formally took possession for the British Crown of the western part of the continent that was not already claimed by the Crown. This was followed by the establishment of the Swan River Colony in 1829, including the site of the present-day capital, Perth.