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[Len]

While searching you tube I came across this old public information clip. It�s an advertisement for the new up coming dollar bill (decimalization).
Prior to the 14th February 1966 the Australian currency was pounds, shillings and pence (I believe ).

I never saw it or anything else as our family didn�t arrive in Australia till 1967 and to us, Australia had always been dollars and cents.

Does anyone remember this old add and the currency change over? It must have been easy to have got used too; I would hate to have to go back to the old pounds, shillings and pence system.



Link

[chrisnic]

Yes Len, I remember. The ad's featured a cartoon character named Dollar Bill. The conversion was easy: ten shillings became a dollar, a shilling became ten cents. So to convert pounds to $'s you just doubled the number. From memory the old currency disappeared within a week or two. Certainly made school arithmetic a lot easier. I still have nightmares about doing long division and multiplication on pounds, shillings and pence.

Chris

[Len]

Long division? What�s that? It�s been many years since I�ve heard that term. These days, I�m an expert with a calculator.

I�ve had a quick search on youtube to see if I could find the said "Dollar Bill" adds but no joy. I can vaguely remember the old British thruppence. I used to get one as pocket money when I was a lad.

[chrisnic]

Yes Len, showing my age there, a product of the British school system of the 50's.

Dollar Bill was the little chap in your video clip. Here's a link:
Museum of Australia. The new decimal notes.

I remember the old thrupenny bit. I heard somewhere that it replaced a small round silver coin that was too easy to confuse with a 6d. When we came to Australia, they still used the old silver coin ("tray bit"), but of course that vanished in 1966. Another piece of trivia: as seen on the clip, the original 50c coin was round, not the 11-sided one used today. It lasted 1 year, and was replaced because it was too easily confused with the 20c coin. I still have 2 of the original 1966 coins.

Chris

[Len]

Thanks for the link Chris, it�s very interesting. I�ve had a quick search and there seams to be loads of info about the old pounds, shillings and pence, along with images.

[Phyl]

Before the change of currency they played a little ditty ending with "on the 14 th of February 1966. " Can't think of the rest of it. The tune was like "Click go the Shears" So I always remeber the date of the change of currency. Can anyone remember that little ditty ?
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Kind regards,
Phyl

[chrisnic]

Hi Phyl

The words to the jingle are on the page I linked to in the post above.

Chris

[Phyl]

Thanks Chris,
Have had a look and remember the song . A lot of nostalgia thankyou.
_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

[slavica]

Yes I remember the pounds and shillings very well. We arrived in Australi in 1963 when I was 13. It took me ages to get used to the currency and measurments (miles and stones) as we were used to the decimal system. The maths is not a good memory for me either Chris.

Just as I got used to it all everything changed. I remeber the excitment on the school bus to Dapto High on the morning of the changeover.

My brother collected pennies in a big glass jar and still has them.
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Slavica

[mazda]

There was a proud moment for me at the local quiz night a couple of years ago. The question was what date did Australia change to decimal currency that little ditty was ringing in my head. We got that one right.