Description

With surfing so ingrained in Australian culture as a sport and pleasure activity, as well as celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Surfing Australia (as the Australian Surfriders Association), it's no surprise that the Royal Australian Mint would eventually press a coin in tribute to this wonderful sport and in celebration of this great milestone. This NCLT (non-circulating legal tender) 50 cent coin is also found issued in an Australia Post PNC.

The surfing was "discovered" during Captain Cook's expedition to Australia in 1778. After Captain Cook's death (during a skirmish over a stolen boat), Lieutenant James King continued to update Captain Cook's diaries, adding the first written account on how to ride the waves. Around 1866, surfing is written about once more, when Mark Twain wrote about his unsuccessful surfing experiences in his book, Roughing It, when sailing to the Hawaii islands. Surfing was brought to Australia in 1915 by Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku. He demonstrated this ancient Hawaiian board riding technique at Freshwater in Sydney.