Random thoughts and observations
Australia adopted decimal currency on February 14, 1966, the year before I was born. According to Wikipedia: In 1965, the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, a monarchist, wished to name the currency the royal. Other proposed names included more exotic suggestions such as the austral, the oz, the boomer, the roo, the kanga, the emu, the digger, the kwid, the dinkum and the ming (Menzies’ nickname).
I’m no great fan of the Australian dollar reaching parity with the greenback. It reduces my tiny revenue from Google ads.
These banknotes found their way into my wallet over the past year. They are currently sitting in a money tin full of spare change and I really must find a better home for them. They are special because (a) Australian banknotes only declared “Commonwealth of Australia” between 1966 and 1972. And (b) Two-dollar notes were [...]
Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen has reportedly asked to be paid in euros rather than US dollars. Bündchen was one of Victoria’s Secret Angels from 2000 until 2006. Since 2004, she has been the highest-paid model in the world and the 16th richest woman in the entertainment industry, with an estimated $70 million fortune. She was [...]
When I visited Zimbabwe in 1991 the currency was stable and the country was relatively prosperous. The Zimbabwe dollar was worth about the same as the rand, almost two to one Australian dollar. That’s hard to believe now, considering the inflation rate hit 7634 percent in June. I bought this old banknote in Harare. It’s [...]
