2016 Fifty Cent Western Front - Battle of Fromelles (50c) Uncirculated Australian Decimal Coin

The 5th Division had been in France just two weeks when it was committed to Australia’s first major action on the Western Front. Fighting alongside British troops near the village of Fromelles on 19 July 1916, its objective was to capture and hold a line of German trenches in an effort to prevent the enemy from sending reinforcements to the Somme. The action was both costly and unsuccessful, and resulted in more than 5500 Australian casualties in just a few hours.

Private Walter Downing recalled seeing hundreds of men “mown down in the flicker of an eyelid, like great rows of teeth knocked from a comb”. After Gallipoli, Australia’s commitment to the Great War shifted to the battlefields of France and Belgium. Follow the trail of remembrance throughout 2016–2018 as the Royal Australian Mint produces a series of coins related to the battles of the Western Front.

Part of the 2016 – 2018 commemorations for the battles fought on the Western Front

Low uncirculated product mintage of only 15,000