Banknotes of the Australian dollar

The banknotes of the Australian dollar, were first issued on the 14 February 1966, when Australia adopted decimal currency.

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

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 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 mm × 65 mm	Pale mauve	Queen Elizabeth II	Parliament House and old Parliament House	Gum flower	1992	7 July 1992
File:5 Australian Dollars Queen front.jpg	File:5 Australian Dollars Queen back.jpg	Recoloured $5		Violet/pink				Currently printing	24 April 1995
File:Australian 5note front (new).jpg	File:Australian 5note back (new).jpg	Federation $52			Sir Henry Parkes	Catherine Helen Spence	Leaf shaped window and "5"	2001	1 January 2001
File:10 Australian dollars front.jpg	File:10 Australian dollars back.jpg	$103	137 mm × 65 mm	Blue	Banjo Paterson	Dame Mary Gilmore	Windmill	Currently printing	1 November 1993
File:Australian $20 note polymer front.jpg	File:Australian $20 note polymer front.jpg	$20	144 mm × 65 mm	Red	Mary Reibey	Reverend John Flynn	Compass and "20"	Currently printing	31 October 1994
File:Australian $50 note polymer front.jpg		$50	151 mm × 65 mm	Yellow	David Unaipon	Edith Cowan	Southern Cross and "50"	Currently printing	4 October 1995
File:100 Australian dollars front.jpg	File:100 Australian dollars back.jpg	$100	158 mm × 65 mm	Green	Dame Nellie Melba	General Sir John Monash	Lyrebird and "100"	Currently printing	15 May 1996
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.
Remarks The colour faded with wear and tear Commemorating the Centenary of Federation. It also features the text of the speech Henry Parkes gave to parliament in favour of federation in microprint, on the side featuring his face. 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.

Proposed Japanese occupation currency notes

During World War II Japan had prepared to invade many countries including Australia. Because of this, the Japanese government at the time designed its own currency for use in Australia. 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.

External links

1. Australian Decimal Banknotes
2. The Money Tracker site allows users to track Australian banknotes as they circulate around Australia.
3. The Reserve Bank of Australia have a full timeline of Australian Banknotes.

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