Stay up-to-date by signing up to receive Michael’s eNewsletter.
Subscribe Now
CELEBRATING THE LUNAR YEAR OF THE RAT WITH THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT
The Hon Michael Sukkar MP
Minister for Housing and Assistant Treasurer
MEDIA RELEASE
24 January 2020
CELEBRATING THE LUNAR YEAR OF THE RAT WITH THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT
To mark the Lunar Year of the Rat, the Royal Australian Mint has joined in Chinese New Year celebrations in Melbourne’s Chinatown.
Officially launched today, the Royal Australian Mint has issued a collection of commemorative coins to celebrate the Lunar Year of the Rat.
The Lunar Year of the Rat is traditionally associated with wealth, surplus, acumen, resourcefulness and intelligence. The Rat is the first of the Chinese zodiac animals.
The collection features designs that include the sharp-witted Rat surrounded by the lucky lychee, the symbol Fu meaning happiness and the lunar calendar wheel, which reflects the traditional story of the race between the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac.
Since the arrival of Ahuto – a Chinese carpenter – on Australian shores in 1803, successive waves of migrants of Chinese heritage have enriched Australia’s social and cultural fabric with their new ideas, work ethic and entrepreneurship.
Today, Australia is the most successful multicultural nation on Earth, and it seems appropriate this year our Australia Day celebrations and Lunar New Year celebrations will overlap.
