Publicity about decimal currency was organised by the Decimal Currency Board. They sought to help the public with the change and educate them on the relative values and price conversion. The campaign began slowly in 1963 and gradually built up in intensity. It relied on newspaper advertisements, pamphlets sent to all households, training sessions conducted by business organisations, and material produced for use in schools.
This approach was adopted because there was no internet and only one television broadcaster in the 1960s. Sir Robert Muldoon recalled later that “The decimal campaign was made deliberately simple and almost childlike as decimal currency was something totally new and a little scary for many people.
One training programme reminded shopkeepers that “people in the older age group could possibly be a little afraid of dollars and cents and because of this will be slower to understand so you can help them by showing patience and understanding”.
A key component of the campaign was the cartoon character ‘Mr Dollar’. The Decimal Currency Board adopted this image because it had “the right blend of dignity and decorum as well as humour".
Supporters of decimal currency claimed it was simple. The existing imperial system was complicated, with 1 pound divided into 20 shillings, 12 pennies to the shilling and 240 pennies to the pound.
New Zealanders had to learn the new system and schools played a key role in this. 10 July was the changeover day because it was in one of the quietest business months. It was also well into the school year which gave schools time to teach their students about decimal currency.
The public was able to purchase 100 practice notes, the same size and colour as the genuine notes, for one shilling and sixpence or 15 cents. Plastic coins were also available.
Many people of a certain age still remember the Dollar Scholar certificate they received at school; the cartoon Mr Dollar; and the jingle played on radio and TV which ended with “You’ll be using these from the 10th of July – this year".
Businesses and banks had to make major changes to be able to manage the new currency from 10 July 1967 ("DC Day").
At a time when computers were in their infancy, over 50,000 cash registers were manually converted to decimal currency. Machines that could not be converted were replaced at the Government’s expense.
It was critical that supplies of new banknotes and coins were available in all banks prior to the 10th of July. The first consignment of notes arrived from England in October 1966. 27 million new banknotes were printed, and 165 million new coins were minted for the changeover.
‘Operation Overlander’ saw $120 million of currency, weighing 730 tons, sent to 600 banks. It arrived by plane, ferry, truck and train between April and June 1967.
Banks closed for business on the Thursday and Friday before Monday 10 July to enable bank staff to change all their accounts in a non-computerised way.
The total cost of the conversion to decimal currency was $6.5 million which was paid for by the sale of old coins for scrap metal.
After DC Day, there was a transitional period during which both imperial and decimal currencies operated side by side.
