Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) one born in Britain who has emigrated to Australia.

1827		P. Cunningham New South Wales II 53: Our colonial-born brethren are best known here by the name of Currency, in contradistinction to Sterling, or those born in the mother-country.
1837		J.D. Lang Hist. & Staistical Account of NSW I 220: Contests, either by land or by water, between the colonial youth and natives of England, or, to use the phrase of the colony, between currency and sterling .
1847		Bell’s Life in Sydney 8 May 2/5: Keck says there is nothing stirling about the newly appointed Sergeant-at-Arms.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Sept. 14/4: One hundred years ago the Australian circulating medium was of a very mixed character. Rum, which varied in price with the quantity on the market, promissory notes and IOU’s for sums from threepence up to £1, the holey dollar, the dump, and the Spanish or Mexican dollar, were denominated ‘currency,’ while the guinea and the silver and copper coins of Great Britain were ‘sterling.’ Then £1 sterling was considered equal to 25s. currency. A facetious paymaster of the 73rd has the credit of applying the terms ‘sterling’ and ‘currency’ to the imported and the native born respectively. The phrase is not now in use. At one time ‘Currency Lass’ and ‘Currency Lad’ were used as publichouse signs.
1945		(con. 19C) Baker Aus. Lang. 42: These were the type of people who styled themselves the aristocracy, sterling (as opposed to currency which was applied to convicts and Australian-born whites).
2000		(con. 19C) Australian 26 Feb. R11: The sterlings attempted something of a strike back with the use of ‘digger’ as a qualifier to describe extravagant spending by newly rich miners.