The Australian two dollar coin denomination (written as $2) was introduced in 1988 to replace a banknote of the same value. Its original ("definitive") design depicts an Aboriginal Elder and is issued every year. The Royal Australian Mint also uses the denomination to issue a large variety of circulating commemorative coins with the same size and composition - such as this one.
This coloured two dollar coin is part of a series of coins issued during the Anzac Centenary period marking 100 years since World War I, and features the Eternal Flame.
Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations member states since the end of the First World War to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. Following a tradition inaugurated by King George V in 1919, the day is also marked by war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries. Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November in most countries to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918.
The Royal Australian Mint issued a series of coins commemorating this, starting in 2012, with differently designed and coloured reverses (in some years more than one type): 2012 Remembrance Day (Poppy), 2014 Remembrance Day (Green), 2015 Remembrance Day (Red), 2015 Remembrance Day (Orange), 2017 Remembrance Day (Red), 2017 Remembrance Day (Blue and Green) and 2018 Eternal Flame.
This seventh coloured coin in the series is multi-coloured and is inspired by the eternal flame at the Australian War Memorial, which symbolises remembrance and sacrifice.
Coins issued in 2018 have now been in circulation for only five years. |