Australian Currency

The Birth Of Australia's Currency

Between settlement in 1788 until 1817, Australia simply used the English Pound-sterling. From 1817, Private banks; beginning first in New South Wales, started to

distribute banknotes with a promise to pay in gold coin on demand at the head office of that bank.

Private Banknotes (1817-1910)

From 1817 to 1910, many private banks and some State governments issued banknotes ranging from one pound to one hundred pounds. Many of the early banks failed, and so did numerous banks resulting from a financial crisis around 1893. Uncancelled issued notes are scarce. Printer’s trials, specimens and unissued notes are more easily located through auctions and thus do not have the same value as an issued note. There are literally hundreds of different issues of private banknotes.

Pictured on the left is the front of a £1 note of the London Chartered Bank of Australia 1887 altered to London Bank Of Australia Limited 1893 after the bank failed.

Superscribed Banknotes (1910-1913)

From 1901, when Australia federated, the federal government still allowed private banknotes to circulate as it had no machinery or printing plates to print currency of its own and in 1910 when parliament passed the Australian Notes Act. 1910, issued superscribed notes such as the one pound note seen below from the National Bank £1

These notes are superscribed with a new federal serial number and overprinted with the words:

“AUSTRALIAN NOTE

Payable in gold coin at the Commonwealth Treasury at the seat of Government.

Jas R. Collins (Accountant) Geo T. Allen (Secretary To The Treasury)”

Pre-Decimal Banknotes (1913-1966)

Pictures of notes from 1913-1953 are available through email to nlagos@yahoo.com

Ten Shillings (1954-1966)

One Pound (1953-1966)

Five Pounds (1954-1966)

Ten Pounds (1954-1966)

Twenty Pounds (1913-1938)

Fifty Pounds (1913-1945)

One Hundred Pounds (1913-1945)

One Thousand Pounds (1914-1915)

NB: This note was not intended to be issued to the public (duh) but some did circulate. They were later used for settlements between banks and within the Reserve Bank Of Australia before being destroyed in 1969.

Decimal Banknotes (Paper) (1966-1996)

On Monday, February 14^th, 1966, Australia began to use decimal currency. The conversion was £1 : $2 and hence the 10/- was replaced by the $1, the £1 was replaced by $2, the £5 was replaced by the $10 and the £10 was replaced by $20. In 1967 the $5 was introduced (could not be readily converted [£2-10/-])

One Dollar (1966-1974)

The One Dollar Note was replaced by the $1 coin in 1984 as a result of inflation and thus a short circulation life of approximately 3 months

Queen Elizabeth II (1925- )

Line interpretation of Aboriginal barkpainting by David Malangi.

One Dollar (1974-1984)

(The only change in 1974 was the title from “Commonwealth Of Australia” to “Australia” and the legal tender phrase was also changed from “Legal Tender throughout the Commonwealth of Australia and the territories of the Commonwealth” to “This Australian Note is legal tender throughout Australia and it’s territories.”

Two Dollars (1966-1988)

The two dollar note was replaced in 1988 by the $2 coin as a result of a short circulation life (approx 3 months)

John Macarthur (1767-1834) pioneer sheep breeder.

William James Farrer, (1845-1906) pioneer wheat breeder.

Five Dollars (1967-1992)

Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), Botanist.

Caroline Chisholm (1808-1877), immigration and women’s rights supporter.

Ten Dollars (1966-1993)

Francis Greenway (1777-1837), architect.

Henry Lawson (1867-1922) poet and short story writer.

Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (1897-1935) pioneer aviator.

Lawrence Hargrave (1850-1915) and his experimental flying machines.

Fifty Dollars (1973-1995)

Lord Howard Walter Florey (1898-1968) pathologist, developer of penicillin.

Ian Clunies Ross (1899-1959) veterinary scientist, first chairman of the CSIRO

(NB: I don’t have this note – the front is from a catalogue that ONLY had the front and the back is actually a picture of an error note with an ink smudge.)

One Hundred Dollars (1984-1996)