Australian coins refers to the coins which are or were in use as Australian currency. During the early days of the colonies that formed Australia, foreign as well as British currency was used, but in 1910, a decade after federation, Australian coins were introduced. Australia used pounds, shillings and pence until 1966, when it adopted the decimal system with the Australian dollar divided into 100 cents. With the exception of the first Proclamation Coinage and the holey dollars, all Australian coins remain legal tender despite being withdrawn from circulation. First coins For many years after the first Australian colony, New South Wales (NSW), was founded in 1788, it did not have its own currency and had to rely on the coins of other countries. During the early days of the colony, commodities such as wheat were sometimes used as a currency because of the shortage of coins. Also many transactions were carried out using promissory notes or a barter system, which included trafficking in alcohol, known as 'rum currency', a system disbanded when Macquarie became governor on 1 January 1810. Spanish dollars were sometimes cut into "pieces of eight", quarters, and then into 2/3 and 1/3 segments, with the 2/3 segments (1/6 of original coin) being "shillings" and the 1/3 segments (1/12 of original coin) "sixpences" In 1791 Governor Phillip of New South Wales fixed the value of the Spanish dollar to equal five shillings. Under the decree of 19 November 1800 by the governor Philip Gidley King, the following eleven coins were legal tender for the exchange value of: Gold Johanna (Portugal coin of 12800 Reis) = £4/0/- (four pounds) Gold Half Johanna (Portugal coin of 6400 Reis) = £2/0/- (two pounds Guinea = £1/2/- (One pound and two shillings) Gold Mohur = £1/17/6 (one pound, 17 shillings and sixpence). Spanish dollar = 5 shillings. Ducat = 9/6 (9 shillings 6 pence). Rupee = 2/6 (2 shillings and 6 pence). Pagoda = 8/- (8 shillings). . Dutch Guilder = 2/- (2 shillings). English shilling = 1/1 (1 shilling and 1 penny). Copper coin of 1 oz = 2 pence. The settlers did have some George III one-penny coins, which were referred to as "Cartwheel pennies". These were the first British coins to be officially exported to the Australian colonies, and so can be considered Australia's first official coins. They were dated 1797 and 1799, with Britannia on one side