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 Replies: 38 / Views: 29,217 |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
652 Posts |
welcome to the forum ford
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New Member
Australia
2 Posts |
Okay here's one for you - can anybody tell me the value of these coins converted into modern Australian currency? I know 1 shilling equals 10 cents, but what would it be equivalent to? What would 5 shillings in 1820 be translated to in terms of actual worth in 2011?  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
7096 Posts |
 History chick. I recon that a 1820 crown in the same year would equal a couple of weeks wages. Just goes to show what nearly 200 years of inflation can do 
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
HC: welcome ! there are websites that purport to give equivalents from one era to another. They seem meaningless to me. Patterns of consumption have altered. For example, in 1820, a family's expendiure was as follows - electricity, 'phone bills - NIL petrol - NIL tickets to the cinema - NIL PCs, laptops, and computer discs - NIL; etc Balancing that, income tax was zero. For a broadstroke comparison, I use the Harvester Judgement of Justice HIGGINS in 1907, which set the "basic wage" for a man supporting a non-working wife and three children was 42 shillings per week. see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvester_JudgmentDiggers who signed up during 1914~18 were paid ... 42 shillings per week. Diggers who signed up in 1939 were also paid 42 shillings per week, but it was increased soon after. When the Overland Telegraph was completed in 1872, a telegram from Melbourne to London cost 10s6d per word. In 1820, as I read the history of England in that era, prices and wages were volatile. Which is why there were two attempts at revolution in England, and another in Scotland, that year. Other periods were more stable. 1820 is a favourite year of mine: I have put together a set of English coins circulating in that year, linking my coin collecting with my study of history. Peter in Darwin Edited by Peter THOMAS
08/26/2011 6:58 pm
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New Member
Australia
2 Posts |
Hi and thanks both of you - nice to meet you and get the benefit of your knowledge! I agree inflation is the key and, yes, electricity costs etc at a very agreeable zero. But then again, we don't have to buy whale oil to light our lamps :)
HC (in Sydnee)
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
Just to explain a little further...
Aussies and Brits share a bit of language and many of the lang terms for the predecimals were univerally used between the two countries...but in London we went one step further with terms that are still occasionally used now but localised to the East End of London and places like snooker halls. These terms use rhyming slang which is hard to follow if you arent accustomed to it. This came about from the workers of the shipyards not wanting the foriegners to understand what they were saying and also from criminals not wanting the police or strangers to understand what they were talking about.
The money terms survive and have more popular usage than the rest of the slang (though some of it is widely understood)
£1, a quid, a nicker (an Alan Wikker)
£5, a jacks (jacks alive=five)
£10, a cockle (cockle and hen=ten)
£20 an apple (an apple core=score=20)
£25 a pony
£40 a bazil (Bazil Fawty)
£50 a bullseye (worth 50 in darts)
£100 a tonne
£300 a carpet (after 3 years in jail they give you a carpet in your cell)
£500 a monkey
£1000 a long'un, a grand or a bag (bag of sand=grand)
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Valued Member
Australia
401 Posts |
we called the threepence a trey bit, sixpence was a zac,
in the decimal a $50 note is a pineapple, a $100 is a Bradman
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Valued Member
Australia
95 Posts |
In the decimal note you sometimes here these
a $10 is a Heelers
a $20 is a Lobster or a Redback
a $50 note is a Pineapple
a $100 is a Bradman or an Avocado
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2166 Posts |
Quote:
$20 is a Lobster That's the only one I've ever heard.
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Valued Member
Australia
95 Posts |
Not sure if these terms are regional or not. Lobster, Pineapple and Avocado were common in QLD - Brisbane in the mid to late 90's
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
slang:
in my travels, I have observed that in Sydney, they are much more specific, and $20 is a "Rock lobster", not a lobster simpliciter, as it is elsewhere.
I've heard the $50 referred to as a "Golden pineapple" in Darwin.
I haven't heard any other terms in recent years.
David UK: £500 a monkey - I recall that being used in Australia, in the pre-decimal era, generally in the context of betting on horses. My Dad took me to the races every week when I was a kid. I remember "monkeys" being discussed, and I was hopeful that we might take one home for a pet ... but they always seemed to "escape" before the day was done.
In the pre-decimal era, in Australia, a "dollar" was five shillings. So, in 1966, it was confusing when a dollar was defined by law as equating to ten shillings. What I didn't realize until a few years ago, when I got into collecting older coins, was that 200 years ago, a dollar was five shillings, and it retained that meaning upto 1966.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
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New Member
Australia
25 Posts |
I was told there was a british 4 pence, did Australians ever use that at one point?
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Formerly nancyc
Australia
5384 Posts |
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I was told there was a british 4 pence, did Australians ever use that at one point? The 4 pence coin was called a Groat, and was never used in Australia as far as I am aware.  http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/fourd.html
life is a mystery to be lived not a problem to be solved
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
Quote:
David UK: £500 a monkey - I recall that being used in Australia, in the pre-decimal era, generally in the context of betting on horses. My Dad took me to the races every week when I was a kid. I remember "monkeys" being discussed, and I was hopeful that we might take one home for a pet ... but they always seemed to "escape" before the day was done. 
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Replies: 38 / Views: 29,217 |
First Page
Posted 08/26/2011 03:47 am
