In 1711 the Dutch East India Company dispatched the trading ship Zuytdorp to Batavia (now Jakarta), the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The ship was lost on its journey and its fate was unknown until the wreck was discovered off the West Coast of Australia. Among the wreckage was found a horde of silver coins marked with the date 1711. (Western Australian Museum, 2006) The Royal Australian Mint has released this one dollar piece as an interesting historical piece commemorating a century since the Zuytdorp vanished.
The reverse was designed by Vladimir Gottwald and depicts an underwater scene including the horde of silver coins. An image of a Dutch 1711 2 suiver piece is also depicted along with the legend "VOC ZUYTDORP" and the denomination "1 DOLLAR". The obverse features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II with the legend "ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2009".
The piece was released as part of the subscription dollar series which ran yearly between 1996 and 2011 with the exception of 2001. The subscription series was distinct from others as each issue was made to order. This meant that the total mintage was limited to the number of orders that had been made in advance of mintage. The series commemorated Australian numismatic history with a number of significant designs being re-struck as well as coins celebrating milestones such as a century of Australian coinage.