History of pound sterling in Oceania

The pound sterling was the currency of many, but not all parts of the British Empire. This article looks at the history of the pound sterling in the Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific region.

The British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 heralded the beginning of a new world order in which Britain would be the supreme world power for the next one hundred years. At the time of Waterloo, the British Empire consisted of the new world territories in the West Indies and in North America which had been retained following the loss of the thirteen colonies. In addition to this, there was the penal colony of New South Wales, the Rock of Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, and the territories controlled by the British East India Company. Victory in the Napoleonic wars brought spoils to Britain which added more territories such as Malta, British Guiana, and Mauritius to the empire. It was the beginning of a golden era for Britain, and the new Royal Mint at Tower Hill coined a new gold sovereign in 1817. At the same time, the Spanish Empire was in decline with revolutions underway in the new world. The silver Spanish pieces of eight that had formed the staple international currency for nearly four hundred years were mostly minted at the new world mints at Potosi, Mexico, and Lima. The supplies of these silver dollars were cut off due to revolutionary wars, and since Britain had formally adopted a successful Gold Specie Standard in 1821, the British government decided in 1825 to introduce the sterling coinage to all of its colonies. An imperial order-in-council was issued in order to set ratings for the sterling coinage against the already circulating Spanish and other foreign coins, for the purposes of facilitating the transition to sterling.

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