These coins – small, thin, made of copper and with a central hole – don't look like any kind of Australian money we're familiar with. They were never legal tender, but they were issued as currency in Australia's wartime internment camps in 1943. Notably, a sprig of eucalyptus and an olive branch, a symbol of peace, form a wreath around the central hole on both sides of the coin. 

During the Second World War, the government forced so-called 'enemy aliens' – mostly Australians of Japanese, German and Italian descent – into internment camps, fearing they posed a security threat. The number of interned people, including prisoners of war, peaked at 12,000, confined in 18 camps across the country.