Not going to bother commenting on the first para above... What is wrong with the roo and emu? Neither can walk backwards so Advance Australia is quite appropriate. Better than some mythical creature in poses that would be impossible to replicate unless stuffed. Not quite as tough/cool/scarey but hey, who cares about us down here anyway?
Replace Liz with any animal...anything that won't spoil the coins like Liz does. If it has to be human, put some real people on there that do real work, not politicians, and it doesn't have to be the same person. Put Paul Hogan on one of them.
Seems like a pretty big following to replace the Queen (God Save her) with the coat of arms (minus the crown) and replace the front of the 50c piece with something different. I lie the idea of not having peoples heads on the back of coins. There will always be arguments about who should be there. However I disagree that captain cook our founder would be a step backward. So if that is the case what do we put on the front of the 50 centa
No comment needed on the first para, says it all, I have seen three of these so it is not exactly an epidemic but still a bit of a shock, all of them on utes. I did not know that the emu and kangaroo could not walk backwards, it wasn't on the citizenship test anyway. but I still say mythical creatures are cool and we should take every opportunity to make use of them, maybe a drop bear or a hoop snake if you want to keep it local?
photos of drop bears are more rare than photos of those andean cats. it would be tough to get the design right.
For the first 120 years or so, the US did not put individuals on coins, just a allegorical Lady Liberty or a generic Indian head. The idea was that in a Republic, there shouldn't be cult of personality or leader worship. The first breech of this tradition was the Lincoln cent in 1909, followed in 1932 with the Washington quarter, 1938 with the Jefferson nickel, etc. However, if you do put a face on coins, this is my recommendation: