There is naturally a great deal of focus on Australia’s Baptism of Fire at Gallipoli, but we first saw WWI action much earlier than April 1915. Indeed, as honoured by this RAM 50c type, the first Australian personnel to make the ultimate sacrifice in WWI were killed in September 1914, during the occupation of Germany’s colonial outpost of New Guinea.

Not to be issued for circulation, this intriguing Australian legal tender commemorative is taken from a strictly limited mintage of 50,000.