The Perth Mint — Attraction in East Perth

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5-Star Google Review – The Perth Mint & Historical Tour (11:30 AM Friday)

Our visit to The Perth Mint this past Friday was an absolutely phenomenal experience—one that exceeded every expectation we had walking through its elegant heritage gates. We joined the 11:30 AM historical tour, and it turned out to be an engaging, educational, and truly memorable way to spend part of our day in Perth.

From the moment we arrived, we were struck by the charm and grandeur of the mint itself. Housed in a stunningly preserved building that dates back to the late 1800s, the Perth Mint is a shining example of living history in the heart of the city. The grounds are immaculate, the interior is beautifully maintained, and there’s a real sense of reverence for the important role this institution has played in Australia’s economic and cultural development.

Our guide for the tour was nothing short of exceptional—charismatic, highly knowledgeable, and clearly passionate about both the mint’s history and the broader story of gold in Western Australia. From the very beginning, they drew us into the era of gold rushes, exploration, and ingenuity that put Perth on the map and helped shape modern Australia. Their storytelling was vivid and rich with fascinating anecdotes, from the dangers of gold prospecting to the intricate minting processes and the role the Perth Mint played in global commerce.

One of the most impressive moments of the tour was witnessing a live gold pour in the original melting house. Watching molten gold being transformed into a gleaming solid bar right before our eyes was genuinely awe-inspiring. The way our guide explained the process—from the intense temperatures required to the value and weight of the final product—made us appreciate the precision and craftsmanship involved. You could feel the history echoing off the walls.

Throughout the tour, we were able to explore original equipment, learn about coin production, and even see one of the world’s largest gold bullion coins, a jaw-dropping display that had us all reaching for our cameras. The interactive displays and historical artifacts added depth and context, making the experience feel authentic and immersive rather than just informative.

There’s also something particularly special about being able to stand in a place where real gold has been refined and minted for over a century—a rare opportunity that connects you not only with Australia’s past but also with the global legacy of precious metals and the value systems we’ve built around them.

The gift shop is well-stocked with beautiful coins, jewelry, and memorabilia—many items made right there on site—and the staff were warm, helpful, and genuinely enthusiastic about the products and the mint’s rich heritage.

We left with a deeper understanding of Western Australia’s gold rush history, the minting process, and the economic and cultural impact of precious metals. But more than that, we left feeling enriched and inspired by a place that so seamlessly blends heritage, craftsmanship, and storytelling.

If you’re visiting Perth—whether you’re a history lover, a coin collector, or just curious about what makes this city tick—do not miss The Perth Mint tour. It’s a world-class experience delivered with professionalism, passion, and pride.

Five stars without hesitation. A gleaming gem in...

This is my edit after the Perth Mint fixed the problem, The manager at the mint reached out after i complained and they refunded the shipping cost which was substantial because of the amount of gold. So in the end I was happy and satisfied that the people at the mint made this right. Thats the main thing is they made it right. so 4 stars instead of 1 star.

Orginal 1 star review:

Be careful with this place - if you visit the store it will probably be easy, if you puchase online it could go either way. If you have to call up and place and order it will be a nightmare. Long wait time to get to speak to someone are normal, 1 or 1.5 hours on hold waiting is normal. Talking to poeple taking your order is frustrating as the people are over worked and busy all day this comes through over the phone.

They make mistakes, address mistakes or shipping mistakes are normal. Ive personally had a large order shipped to the wrong place because someone at perth mint broke their own rules and shipped the order using the wrong shipment company even after they explained to me we had to use that shipment type, we paid A LOT extra with insurance and setup the delivery depo etc ... the PM in-house team made a mistake and shipped it out the wrong way cost us almost a month of time and worry.

And dont expect them to let you know whats going on, thats right YOU have to call back and wait 1 hour on hold, only to speak to a frustrated person who has to go chase up a status for you - no tracking, no follow up, its all on you.

Its business 101 but they seem to make these mistakes a lot and it costs you time and headache. Unfortunately they are the best place to purchase gold and silver in Australia and they know it so there isnt much changing anytime soon. It should be a simple job to take orders and fulfil them but they seem to make a mess of it. Someone there should be fired to shake things up. They are simply making to many mistakes for 21st century business.

The account setup process is broken and doesnt work, if you setup a personal account it will sit in waiting to be verfied for weeks and nothing will happen. this is because the website is broken and process is broken. YOU have to call up and spend hours on the phone getting them to fix your account just to do business with them.

If you have an SMSF the website tells you to open an account online, so you do that, but then nothing happens, and then when you call them up to find out whats going on they tell you that the online process doesnt work and you can only do it by calling up and setting up the account over the phone manually like its the 1970's again. After a lot of calls and sending through A lot of paperwork to prove identity and SMSF setup you get the account. And then they let you know that you can never place orders online but you must phone in orders for SMSF each time. this is when you find out your stuck in a 1970 process that takes 2 hours minimum to puchase anything.

Perth Mint needs some new managment ASAP - they need to be brought into the 21st century badly. The purchasing experiene here is so slow, so error prone, so unhelpful, so time wasting, so frustating and so backwards and out of date. if it wasnt for the fact they are the best place to puchase from, no one would use them, everyone would have moved on...

As regular visitors to the Perth Mint, me and my family have experienced a significant downturn in customer service delivery as well as new processes which lack efficiency.

On our most recent experience on Tuesday 5th March 2024, we noticed that the Mint no longer accepts cash, that is to say, a government building does not accept legal tender. I find this an invasive and forced measure to monitor the publics transactions and implement a cashless society. It's also just super annoying.

We purchased the newly released coins then preceeded into the other area to purchase bullion and gold nuggets at which point we were told we had to virtually sign into a waitlist, to receive a text message, followed by a second text message to go to an onboarding desk, to register personal details which had already been put into the virtual QR code, so you could then receive a third text message to say you can sit with the staff to purchase the bullion. There were 3 staff at the bullion desks, all of which were not serving a single customer at this point. So I have to have 5 or 6 touch points, walk back and forth across the building, wait a minimum of 20-25 minutes before I can see a staff member who was vacant anyway?

When I asked the staff member if I could just avoid that whole process and buy the bullion, she was rude, abrupt and clearly annoyed I was trying to avoid the process. I was then guided by a security member to another staffer who then explained why the process was in place whilst I purchased something else. This lady was not rude, but her lack of enthusiasm was clear. By this point, you could tell the script the staff members had been given was so ingrained that they could not see their new process is completely convoluted and inconvenient. If they are hoping to phase out one on one customer service and encouraging online only business, then this is a good strategy. People do not enjoy spending their money when staff act entitled, self serving and egotistical.

Overall, there is an underlying culture within the staff that is best described as unfriendly, robotic and snobby.

I sincerely hope that the Perth Mint consider holding focus groups before implementing new processes in the future, or come up with a more transparent reason for the changes. I don't dish out 1 star reviews very often but I have sat with my thoughts for 2 days and I still feel strongly some better changes should be made to rectify these issues. I hope this is constructive and that I get the opportunity to...