Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II (on Australian Coins), from left Gillick, Machin, Maklouf, Gottwald and Rank-Broadley
Princess Elizabeth was just 25 when she took to the throne to be Queen of England and the Commonwealth after the sudden untimely passing of her father King George VI. After her coronation in 1952 Australian coins began to bear her effigy from 1953. All obverse (or heads side) designs feature HM facing to the right as per Royal tradition.
There have been 4 standard portraits and one special design (by an Australian designer Gottwald) used on Australian legal tender currency and we have written detailed articles about each coin obverse.
The Mary Gillick Portrait 1953-1964
The Arnold Machin Portrait 1966-1984
The Raphael Maklouf Portrait 1985-1998
The Vladimir Gottwald Portrait 2000 and 2010 (Gold NCLT issue)
The Ian Rank-Broadley Portrait 1998-present
