During Western Australia’s sesquicentenary celebration in 1979, the Government minted, at the Perth Mint, five medallions, being Gold, Silver, Cupro-Nickel, Brass and Bronze, each with individual designs by a local artist Margaret Priest. The marketing 1eft much to be desired as they were put out through all the Banks, leaving no incentive for advertising benefit. Little publicity for the medallions occurred during the celebration year and as a result the main sales were the gold and silver. This was partly due to the metals boom in late 1979. The Perth Numismatic Society followed up the medallion surplus with the intention of acquiring a quantity of Cupro-Nickel, Brass and Bronze. The Society received an option on 1,000 each of these medallions, however during the ‘red tape’ that followed, the Bronze were melted and recycled into 1980 two cent pieces at the Perth Mint. The Society was able ta acquire 1,000 Cupro-Nickel and 1,000 Brass medallions before the remainder of these were melted into coinage alloy for the Royal Australian Mint and slot machine tokens for an Adelaide Company.
The obverse of all medallions depicts Captain Stirling, the State’s first Governor, against a back-drop of Garden Island (the original landing about 2km off the mainland but 10km from Fremantle). Also in the background is his ship the Parmelia and a long boat. The reverse of the Silver is of the Light Horse Memorial at Albany, the bronze an old prospector panning for gold, the Cupro-Nickel Aboriginal cave paintings and the Brass a young surfboard rider on a wave.
The original price of the base metal medallions was $5 each, the Society could sell them to the public at not less than this price, and to numismatic society members across the country at $3 each; the Society paid $4,000 for the 2,000 medallions.