Melbourne artist updates coins to reflect modern ‘Straylian life

Melbourne artist Aaron Tyler has completed what he first began in October last year with Straya Cash, giving Australian coins an ironic overhaul.

Like Mr Tyler’s Straya Cash, which saw Australian notes incorporating symbols of modern life, “Straya Shrapnel” stamps our coin currency with the profiles of everything from Australian band AC/DC to convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, to the ever classy goon sack.

“Due to the overwhelming response to Straya Cash, and the raft of modern day Aussie icons that couldn't quite muscle their way onto the notes, I thought it only fitting to design a special set of commemorative coins for Australia Day,” Mr Tyler wrote on his website.

Mr Tyler’s tongue-in-cheek reinvention of Australian notes made headlines last year, just days after he first posted them to his website.

"Those faces [on the notes] were relevant once, but they don't strike a chord with modern Australia. The time is right for a facelift," he wrote at the time.

My Tyler’s new Straya Shrapnel designs include everything from the lowly five cents to one “dolla” and two “bucks”.

Check out which heroes and hoots, classic grub and cringe-worthy memes made the cut.