Royal Australian Mint Strikes First Coin of the Year

On 1 January 2023, and following a two-year break due to COVID, the Royal Australian Mint (RAM) held its annual First Coin of the Year event at its facility in Canberra.

Visitors were invited to the Mint on the morning of 1 January and given one ticket to enter a ballot to choose 100 people to receive the first coins of the year. From the ballot, Taiwanese exchange student Mina Hsu was selected to help press the very first coin of 2023 – not just the first coin in Australia, but in the world.

CEO Leigh Gordon noted that ‘after a two-year hiatus, we are excited to bring back this annual tradition and have members of the public gather in person to collect the first coins, as well as observe the exciting new theme of the collection – Creatures of the Deep’.