News in Brief

RAM Re-Opens Following Refurbishment

The Royal Australian Mint’s newly refurbished facilities have officially opened following a $6 million upgrade of the public spaces, which is intended to elevate the Mint as an iconic Australian cultural heritage tourism destination.

Nearly 60 years after the then Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, opened the Mint in 1965, the Governor-General of Australia, Sam Mostyn AC, re-opened the Mint’s facilities.

The Visitor Experience Enhancement Project – also known as VEEP – is a refurbishment of the Mint’s public spaces that aims to deliver improved experiences that showcase Australian stories through coin, and celebrate the people, artistry, precision engineering and unique skills of its workforce, said CEO Leigh Gordon.

New features include creative interactive installations and a coin column containing 24,432 new dollar coins that took two weeks to glue into place. One of the installations, the trading ways installation, tells the story of how trade existed in Australia well before colonisation. ‘It was critical that this story be produced by an Indigenous-led team, and was developed in consultation with local First Nations groups, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people’, noted Mr Leigh.