A NEW CURRENCY: 1900–1920
First Notes – Reflections of the Australian Economy
Production of the First Australian Note
As a first step towards a unique Australian currency note the Treasury
invited designs from the public. It offered prizes of £50 and specified
that the designs should not use more than three colours and should include
the Australian Coat of Arms on the front and Australian scenery on the
back of the notes.
The Commonwealth Coat of Arms, in various forms, was an important element of design on all Australian currency notes up to 1966, when the first decimal notes were introduced.
The Coat of Arms, granted in 1912 by King George V, is the official symbol of the Federation of six States (see below).
The Coat of Arms represented on Australia's first and second series of currency notes, however, was somewhat different to the official version in showing the State badges in three rows of two rather than two rows of three.
The note designs offered by the public were judged unsuitable. Assistance
was sought in England on note design, plate engraving and printing machinery.
By late 1911 the Government had approved revised note designs.
Mr
Thomas S Harrison, previously Manager of a London printing company, was
appointed to the position of Australian Note Printer in May 1912.
Printing works were set up by the Treasury at the King's (later Queen's)
Warehouse, Flinders Street Extension, Melbourne.
The first Australian currency note – a ten shilling denomination
– was produced in May 1913. Other denominations from £1 to
£1 000 followed during 1913–15.
A ceremony to number the first note took place at the Kings Warehouse on 1 May 1913. The first note was numbered by the Honourable Judith Denman, the daughter of the Governor-General, Lord Denman. Other dignitaries at the ceremony were Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, and the Governor of the Commonwealth Bank, Denison Miller.
The First Australian Currency Notes
The economy of the new Commonwealth of Australia was heavily reliant on mining and rural activities. These accounted for around a third of national output and employment. Gold and wool alone accounted for 60 per cent of all exports. The design of the first series of Australian notes very much reflected this economic structure.
The first notes carried the signatures of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. The bottom centre of the notes carried the imprint 'T.S. Harrison Australian Note Printer'.
The notes featured the words – The Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia promises to pay the Bearer in gold coin on Demand at the Commonwealth Treasury at the Seat of Government.
Currency notes from 10 shillings to £1 000 were produced.
Some early Australian notes, kept for archival purposes, were perforated with the word 'CANCELLED' to make them unsuitable for circulation.
The
first ten shilling note featured the Goulburn Weir in Victoria built in
the late 1880s as part of Australia's first big irrigation scheme.
This was testimony to the key importance of water in opening up Australia's land resources for rural activities and in coping with devastating droughts, which had already proven to be a major trigger for swings in the country's economic fortunes.
The first one pound note featured gold mining at Bendigo.
The Victoria Quartz Mine was at that time the world's deepest gold mine. The Bendigo area had been a focal point of the gold rushes that had so transformed the economy during the previous half century.
The five pound note showed a scene of the Hawkesbury River near Brooklyn, New South Wales. This town originally housed workers who built the Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge in 1889, then the longest such bridge in Australia.
Around the turn of the century, the Hawkesbury area was also central to the expanding fishing and oyster cultivation industries.
A
record crop in 1909/10 closed a decade which saw the value of wheat output
increase nearly fourfold, helping the rural sector diversify and reduce
a little its dependence on wool.
The £20 note featured timber cutting on Bruny Island, Tasmania.
The
tree being felled is believed to be a blue gum. In the 19th century this
timber was used by shipbuilders in Britain and elsewhere.
The £100 note featured waterfalls on the Upper Yarra River in Victoria and at Leura in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.
The scenes were part of a prize-winning design originally submitted for the first five pound note.
To mark the vital role of the wool industry in Australia's economic development, a flock of sheep was featured on both the £50 and £1000 notes.
Around the turn of the century, there were nearly 100 million sheep in Australia compared with 4 million people. Wool then accounted for around 40 per cent of exports compared with about 5 per cent nowadays.
£1 000 notes did circulate in public initially but the Treasury soon required that they be used only by banks for settling their debts with each other.
