These days, we take for granted that the value of the Australian dollar fluctuates against other currencies, changing thousands of times a day and at times jumping or falling quite a lot in the space of a week. But for most of Australia’s history, the value of the Australian dollar – and the earlier Australian pound – was “pegged” to either gold, pound sterling, the US dollar or to a value of a basket of currencies. The momentous decision to float the dollar was taken on Friday December 9 1983 by the Hawke Labor Government, which was elected nine months earlier. As they approached the cabinet room at what is now Old ... (full story)