The surprise hit of our trip to Canberra was the Royal Australian Mint. A mint is just a factory that makes money, right? How interesting can that be? As it turns out, absolutely fascinating!
The public part of the Mint building itself isn’t huge. There’s a foyer downstairs which includes a small café, a gift shop and bathrooms - and an art installation made of $1 coins. An amazing set of stairs decorated with 5c coins leads the way up to the main floor, where there are many interesting displays. The highlight of this floor is a window which gives a view down on to the working mint floor below. From this vantage point, it is possible to see the humans and robots going about their jobs, which is surprisingly interesting.
We really enjoyed the family-friendly, highly informative free tour at the Mint, which included detailed commentary about the factory floor view through the window. We highly recommend picking up the children’s workbooks which are available at the front desk – they really keep the kids engaged and make a simple souvenir.
Speaking of souvenirs, perhaps the coolest things at the Mint are the mint-your-own coin machines in the gift shop. These coins make great souvenirs and watching your own coin get pressed is a pretty cool experience for kids.
Free parking is available on site at the Mint’s location, on Denison Street in Deakin – though we found parking spaces to be limited, so arrive well ahead of any planned tour. The public tours are free, but bookings through Eventbrite are required. These open a month or two in advance via the Mint’s website. Public tours are run at 11 am and 2 pm on weekdays and at 11 am, 1 pm and 2 pm on weekends and public holidays. The Mint is also open to self-guided visitors from 8:30 am – 5 pm weekdays and from 10 am – 5 pm on weekends.
For more information, check out our Youtube Short on our visit to the Mint or visit the Royal Australian Mint website.
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