Old Royal Mint

Gold rush-era mint now housing currency history exhibitions

Address 280 William Street
Phone +61 3 9670 1219

The Royal Mint operated here from 1872 to 1967, producing gold sovereigns during the Victorian gold rush boom and later Australia's decimal coins after currency changeover in 1966. The heritage-listed bluestone building is one of Melbourne's finest examples of Victorian institutional architecture.

Today it houses exhibitions on the gold rush era, the mechanics of coin production, and the history of currency in Australia. The exhibitions are well put together and more engaging than you might expect — the gold rush period in Victoria was genuinely dramatic, and the mint was at the centre of it. The building itself is worth a look even if history isn't your primary interest. Located in the CBD, it's an easy add-on to a walk between the State Library and the Flagstaff Gardens.

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A story
At the peak of the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, so much gold was being extracted from the goldfields that it was impractical to ship it all to the Sydney Mint. The Melbourne branch of the Royal Mint was established in 1872 specifically to turn Victorian gold into sovereign coins on site. By the 1880s it was producing millions of sovereigns a year, stamped with the tiny letter M to identify their Melbourne origin. These Melbourne-minted sovereigns now circulate among numismatists as collectibles.

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