Resources for Expats, Travelers and Entrepreneurs Navigating Life and Trade in the Heard and McDonald Islands with the Australian dollar.
What's in this Heard and McDonald Islands currency guide?
The official currency of the Heard and McDonald Islands (country code: HM) is the Australian dollar, with symbol A$ and currency code AUD.
The BestExchangeRates.com currency comparison table below helps you see the total cost of your currency transaction by showing the exchange rates offered by different providers. It also makes it easy to spot potential savings from market-leading FX services compared to bank rates.
To see a full list of rates, enter your transaction type, currencies and amount then click ‘GET RATES’:
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The domestic currency in the Heard and McDonald Islands is the Australian dollar.
The three letter currency code for the Australian dollar is AUD — symbol is A$.
Here is an example Australian dollar banknote:

It is the domestic currency in   Australia, Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling Islands, Heard and McDonald Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Norfolk Island and Tuvalu.
No, the Australian dollar is freely available and convertible. See guide: What is a closed currency?
Here are some popular conversion amounts for USD to AUD (US dollar to Australian dollar)*.
*Converted at the current USDAUD interbank exchange rate. Calculate actual payout amounts for Send Money and Travel Money exchange rates.
Using Wise for Australian dollar travel money is a smart choice for savvy travelers. With its competitive exchange rates and low fees, Wise allows you to convert and manage multiple currencies effortlessly.
Be careful when using your own bank's Debit/Credit Card, as your bank may also charge an extra 3% as an “Overseas Transaction Charge” plus “Overseas ATM” fees for withdrawing cash on top of the standard Visa/Mastercard 2.5% from market mid-rate.
For card purchases, if you are offered a choice of currencies always select to Pay in Australian dollar otherwise you will typically get much worst dynamic currency conversion (DCC) exchange rates.
If you really want Australian dollar cash before departure, you can save money by ordering online. You generally get better rates and can pick up the AUD cash locally or even on travel day at the airport.
The below interactive chart displays the USD/AUD change and UP📈 DOWN📉 trends over the past 1 Year.
To get a good (and fair) exchange rate when sending money to the Heard and McDonald Islands you need to find and compare exchange rates for International Money Transfers (IMTs).
The available FX rates for sending money abroad can be very different to the mid-market (wholesale) rate which you see reported online and in the News.
You should especially compare your own bank's exchange rates to those available from Money Transfer specialists to see how much you can save - we make that calculation easy in the below table.
When sending money to the Heard and McDonald Islands it’s important to compare your bank’s rates & fees with those we have negotiated with our partner money transfer providers. To get a better deal you should follow these 4 simple steps :
Use the above calculator to compare the exchange rates of FX specialist providers rates versus your bank's standard rates you can hopefully save around 5% and maybe more - end result is more Australian dollar deposited into the recipient bank account and less margins and fees kept by the banks!