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Australia Tasmanian Devil

2010 Proof Five Dollar

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The Little Dinkums coin collection lovingly celebrates Australia's favourite creatures. The Royal Australian Mint had commissioned artist Ben Hutchings to design six characters for a coin collection named Little Dinkums. They were Petey Platypus, Kip Koala, Kato Cockatoo, Tinga the Tasmanian Tiger, LilyPilly Lizard and finally Binny Bilby. This coin was struck in Gold at a size of just 14mm. The reverse of this coin, designed by the Royal Australian Mint has the cartoon character Tinga the Tasmanian Tiger depicting the Tasmanian Devil. It includes the legend 1/25 oz 99.99 AU 5 DOLLARS. The obverse features the traditional Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, crowned and right facing and is surrounded by the legend "ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2010". This coin, along with the other three, were sold in individual boxes with the cartoon character emblazoned upon it.

The Tasmanian Devil is an iconic symbol of Tasmania and Australia. It has been widely used by the media and businesses alike. It gained worldwide recognition from the Looney Tunes cartoon character. It is a carnivorous marsupial that is found only in Tasmania despite attempts to get them to breed elsewhere. It can best be described as a small stocky dog with powerful jaws and having front legs longer than its back legs.Its habitat is throughout Tasmania, but the core of its population would be the eastern and north-western parts. It prefers dry and open forests and can also be found near roads so that it can scavenge from roadkill. This can also be its own downfall though, as many devils lose their life on the roads. They are a protected species and their decline is also due to diseases such as Devil facial tumour disease which forms around its mouth and eventually starves the animal to death (Tasmania parks and wildlife service, 2013) .