Two Dollars 2019 Mr Squiggle - Bill (Coloured), Coin from Australia - detailed information

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 seven-coin series issued by the Royal Australian Mint to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Mr Squiggle and Friends, and features Bill Steamshovel.

Generations of Australians have grown up with Mr Squiggle and his friends: Blackboard, Bill Steamshovel and Gus the Snail. From his home on the Moon, Mr Squiggle would visit Earth in his rocket to entertain children - with his gentle whimsy and wonderful talent for turning their squiggles into pictures with his pencil nose.

Created by cartoonist and puppeteer Norman Hetherington, the children’s television series Mr Squiggle ran on the ABC between 1959 and 1999. At its height, Mr Squiggle was one of the most popular children’s programs in Australia, receiving many thousands of squiggles each year from children around Australia.

The series contains four coloured $2 coins issued into circulation, two $1 coins meant to be for collectors only, as well as a special one cent coin - which is in a denomination that no longer circulated in Australia at the time of issue.