Ring in the new year by minting the first coin in the world for 2025.

For more than 10 years, the Royal Australian Mint has given people the opportunity to mint the last and first coin of the year.

Royal Australian Mint media and communications officer Trudy Taylor said hundreds of people turn up to take part in the event, travelling from right around the country.

“They’re real coin enthusiasts,” Ms Taylor said.

“The exciting thing about the first one is that because of the time zones, we’re actually the first coin minted anywhere in the world, which is really cool.”

The theme of the 2024 coin is ‘Out of this World’.

“That one is a tribute to the work that Australia has done in outer space,” Ms Taylor said.

“We worked with the Australian Space Agency to look at the different aspects.

“It reflects different things like Katherine Bennell-Pegg and the Honeysuckle Creek tracking station and the role that it played.”

Ms Bennell-Pegg is Australia’s first female astronaut. She is also the director of space technology at the Australian Space Agency.

The Honeysuckle Creek dish played a vital role in televising Neil Armstrong as he became the first person to step onto the moon’s surface on 20 July 1969.

Royal Australian Mint director of museum, education and visitor services Stuart Baines said the last and first coins of the year had become collectables.

“All of these memorabilia coins—what we try to do is reflect the Australian story and culture by selecting parts of our history that resonate with the community,” Mr Baines said.

“It’s not just a coin that you pay to get your milk, the coin helps us to tell the story of who we are.”

He said there was a story behind every coin.

“It’s not just about the coin, it’s about the stories the coins tell,” Mr Baines said.

How it works:

For the last coin of the year, on 31 December, the mint holds a raffle for the chance to mint one of the last 10 coins of the year. Each person receives a certificate of authentication.

A raffle is held to select the last 10 visitors to mint the last coins in Australia for 2024.

Visitors can attend the mint between 3:30-4:30pm with the raffle drawn at 4:30pm. The minting fee is $3.

For the first coin of the year, another raffle will be held, this time on 1 January 2025, with certificates of authentication for the first 100 coins. The wristbands will be available between 7 and 8am and drawn at 8am.

As part of this historical occasion, the first coin will be set in a piece of marble taken from the iconic mint building’s heritage listed floor during recent renovations.

The design for the 2025 coin has not been released.

Visit the Royal Australian Mint website here.