Senator the Hon Nick Sherry, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, today launched the first coin in the Inspirational Australians’ coin series which features the Australian people’s saint, Blessed Mary MacKillop.

The Inspirational Australian coin series recognises and celebrates individual achievements and commemorates unique Australians who have made an extraordinary contribution to our society.

The Royal Australian Mint has released a special one dollar coin featuring a detector dog on duty to mark the centenary of Australian Quarantine.

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) is responsible for protecting Australia’s borders from exotic pets and diseases. AQIS also provides import and export inspection to support access to overseas markets.

“To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue coins in commemoration of Native Americans and the important contributions made by Indian tribes and individual Native Americans to the development of the United States and the history of the United States, and for other purposes.”

The only first lady to be born outside the U.S., Louisa Catherine Johnson was born in 1775 in London to an American father and British mother. The family moved to France when she was three, where she completed her education.

On March 25, 1957 the Treaty of Rome was signed. Fifty years later, on March 26, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen will strike the first 2 euro commemorative coin celebrating this anniversary.

The Royal Mint Museum houses one of the finest coin collections in the world, containing some of the most outstanding rarities of the modern British coinage.

In an effort to share this national treasure more widely, an item from the Museum will be selected and explained each month on the Royal Mint website. Over a period of time these short notes will form a fascinating insight into the Royal Mint and the coins it has made for over 1000 years.

Next January, the United States Mint will issue the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin. This coin promises to fulfill Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ vision of an ultra high relief coin that could not be realized in 1907 with his legendary Double Eagle liberty design.

The American Eagle Gold Uncirculated Coins were introduced in 2006. Struck on specially burnished blanks, these coins offer precious metal purchasers a collectible version of the popular American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins and feature a finish similar to their bullion coin counterparts.