A long, late night drive after the Sydney fireworks ensured Celeste Weerts had a place in the line outside the Royal Australian Mint on Tuesday morning alongside her family, as part of a highly-competitive ballot to mint the world's first coin for 2019.
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People arrived from 5am on Tuesday to secure their entry in the ballot, after the Mint stopped people lining up for days outside to secure their spots in 2018.
Celeste's ticket was drawn first by Mint chief executive Ross MacDiarmid about 9.15am, giving the 11-year-old the the honour of minting the Mint's, and the world's, first coin for 2019.
Celeste said it was "pretty amazing" that she got to mint the coin, and was "pretty nervous and excited".
The one dollar coin's reverse features Australian bushrangers, part of the Mint's "Bold, the Bad and the Ugly" bushranger theme.
"It is important to recognise the lasting impact that the bushranging era has had on Australia, including its role in shaping Australian art, literature, music and our everyday way of life," Mr MacDiarmid said.
Asked why she liked collecting coins, Celeste said they were all different.
"Lots of [coins] are really pretty," she said.
Mr MacDiarmid said that even though the need for circulating coins had reduced, more and more young people still appreciated something they could hold which represented value.
"We are moving to a less cash society and we've seen a significant decline in demand for circulating coins in the last five years, particularly in the last couple of years," he said.
But Mr MacDiarmid said research commissioned by the Mint had shown the decline would plateau over the next few years.
"Coins will be around for a long period of time," Mr MacDiarmid said.
Ronald Anderson, who also travelled from Sydney especially for the first coin event, said he was excited to see so many young people getting involved in coin collecting.
Mr Anderson said he was glad he had joined the line for the ballot at 5.15am, because more than 100 people were queuing alongside the Mint by 6.30am.
The first 100 people to enter the ballot minted coins on Tuesday morning, which are highly prized by collectors, and received a commemorative Mint gift bag.
Harley Russo secured the first minted coin for four years in a row from 2013 by camping out at the Mint before he was usurped by Belconnen teenager Luke Marshall in 2017.
The ballot system introduced in 2018 addresses health and safety concerns the previous line up caused, Mr MacDiarmid said.
