Banknotes of the Australian dollar

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The banknotes of the Australian dollars, were first issued on the 14 February 1966.

Contents

[edit] Former series (paper)

The $5 note was not issued until 1967. The $1 (10/-,) $2 (£1,) $10 (£5,) and $20 (£10) had exact exchange rates with pounds, but the $5 (£2/10) did not, and so was introduced after the public had become familiar with decimal currency. Notes issued between 1966 and 1972 bore the title "Commonwealth of Australia". Starting from 1973, the title on the new notes only read "Australia". The $50 note was introduced in 1973 and the $100 note in 1984, in response to inflation requiring larger denominations for transactions. The one dollar note was replaced by a large coin in 1984, while the two dollar note was replaced by a small coin in 1988.

Paper Series [1]
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of issue
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse
$1 140 × 70 mm Brown and orange Elizabeth II David Malangi 1966
$2 152 × 76 mm Green and yellow John Macarthur William Farrer 1966
$5 Mauve Joseph Banks Caroline Chisholm 1967
$10 155 × 76 mm Blue and orange Francis Greenway Henry Lawson 1966
$20 160 × 81 mm Red and yellow Charles Kingsford Smith Lawrence Hargrave 1966
$50 165 × 82 mm Gold, blue, brown and green Howard Florey Ian Clunies Ross 1973
$100 172 × 82.5 mm Light blue and grey Douglas Mawson John Tebbutt 1984
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] Current series (polymer)

In 1988, the Reserve Bank of Australia issued plastic, specifically polypropylene polymer banknotes (which were produced by Note Printing Australia), to commemorate the bicentenary of European settlement in Australia. These notes contained a transparent "window" with an optically variable image of Captain James Cook as a security feature. Australian banknotes were the first in the world to use such features.

There were initial difficulties with the banknote first banknote issued, the $10 note (pictured), was recalled because of problems with the holographic security feature detaching from the note. However, the Reserve Bank saw potential in the issue of plastic banknotes and commenced preparations for an entirely new series made from polymer, commencing with the $5 note in 1992. In 1995, the design of the $5 note was updated to match the rest of the New Note Series, with additional slight changes in 1996. In 2001, a special commemorative $5 note was produced, but in 2002, the previous version's production commenced again.

In 2002, the design of all notes (except for the $5 note picturing the Queen) were slightly changed to include the names of the people pictured on them under the portraits, and swapping the order of the signatures of officials on the notes.

Today all Australian notes are made of polymer.

Second series (1991- ) [1]
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse Transparent Window printing issue
Original $51 130 × 65 mm Pale mauve[2] Queen Elizabeth II Parliament House and old Parliament House Gum flower 1992 7 July 1992
Recoloured $5 Violet/pink Currently printing 24 April 1995
Federation $52 Henry Parkes Catherine Helen Spence Leaf shaped window and "5" 2001 1 January 2001
$103 137 × 65 mm Blue Banjo Paterson Dame Mary Gilmore Windmill Currently printing 1 November 1993
$20 144 × 65 mm Red Mary Reibey Reverend John Flynn Compass and "20" Currently printing 31 October 1994
$50 151 × 65 mm Yellow David Unaipon Edith Cowan Southern Cross and "50" Currently printing 4 October 1995
$100 158 × 65 mm Green Dame Nellie Melba Sir John Monash Lyrebird and "100" Currently printing 15 May 1996
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] Remarks

  1. The colour faded with wear and tear
  2. Commemorating the Centenary of Federation
  3. This note features all the text from Banjo Paterson's most famous poem "The Man From Snowy River" in microprint on the front, and the text of Mary Gilmore's patriotic poem No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest on the reverse.

[edit] Colloquial Nicknames

In the paper series it was widely known that the $100 bill had the tag 'Grey Nurse' attached to it.

The Following table is some of the colloquial nicknames for the current series that have evolved around fruit and animals.

NOTE Fruit Animals Other
$100 Cucumber or Cabbage Leaf Peacock, Treefrog Green drink ticket, or Minty
$50 Pineapple, or Avocado Canary Golden Drink Voucher
$20 Tomato, or Cherry Lobster, or Crayfish
$10 Blueberry Bluebird, Heeler, Swimmer, or a Bluetonge
$5 Grape Piglet, or Starfish Stuart Diver

[edit] Proposed Japanese occupation currency notes

During World War II Japan had prepared to invade many countries and Australia was the main prize. Because of this Australia had the 'honour' to have its own currency created for her by the Japanese Government. It should be noted that this is not the only currency outside of their own that they decided to use. For these examples see Japanese military yen.

However due to the fact that Japan never succeeded in their goal of invasion the currency was never used in Australia. It was however used in the captured Australian colonies of Papua New Guinea.

The notes may be viewed at the Reserve Bank Of Australia website [2].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values
  2. ^ (2000) in Ian W. Pitt: Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values, 19th ed., Chippendale, N.S.W.: Renniks Publications, 168. ISBN 0-9585574-4-6. 

[edit] External links

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