AUD/USD Parity: When the Aussie Dollar Matched the US Dollar

Short Answer

The Australian dollar (AUD) was worth more than one US dollar from its introduction in 1966 until the early 1980s, when its value was set by the government. Since the currency was floated in December 1983, it has traded above parity in only one period: late 2010 to May 2013, driven by the mining boom, high Australian interest rates and very low US rates after the global financial crisis.

Today one US dollar buys … AUD, which means 1 AUD = … USD (rate date: …).

The Fixed-Rate Era (1966–1983)

• 14 February 1966: decimal currency introduced. The new dollar was linked to sterling and worth about US$1.12 (so 1 USD ≈ A$0.89).
• 1971: after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, Australia pegged its dollar to the US dollar.
• 1973: revaluations lifted the Australian dollar to around US$1.49 – the strongest it has ever been against the US dollar.
• September 1974: the peg moved to a trade-weighted basket of currencies, with a 12% devaluation.
• November 1976: a 17.5% devaluation, followed by a “crawling peg” adjusted in small daily steps.
• Early 1980s: the dollar slipped below parity with the US dollar.
• 12 December 1983: the Australian dollar was floated, so its value has been set by the market ever since.

The 2010–2013 Parity Period

The Australian dollar reached parity with the US dollar in October 2010 for the first time since the float. On ECB daily reference data, it first ended a day above US$1 on 4 November 2010 and last did so on 10 May 2013. The peak came in mid-2011 at roughly US$1.10 (about 0.90 AUD per USD).

Commonly cited drivers were record prices for iron ore and coal exported to China, Australian interest rates well above those in the US, Europe and Japan, and the US Federal Reserve's quantitative easing. As commodity prices eased and the Reserve Bank of Australia cut rates, the Australian dollar fell back below parity in 2013.

Record Lows After the Float

• 1986: a sharp fall to the high 50s (US cents), during the “banana republic” current-account debate.
• April 2001: the all-time post-float low, below US$0.48 – about 2.07 AUD per USD on ECB reference data.
• October 2008: a rapid drop during the global financial crisis, to around 1.64 AUD per USD.
• March 2020: a brief fall to around US$0.58 (1.73 AUD per USD) at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For year-by-year averages since 1999, see USD to AUD historical rates.

Source: calculated from European Central Bank euro foreign exchange reference rates (USD and AUD against the euro), retrieved via the open Frankfurter API on 3 October 2026. ECB reference rates are set once per working day around 14:15 CET, so highs and lows are daily reference values, not intraday extremes, and may differ slightly from Reserve Bank of Australia figures.