A NEW CURRENCY: 1900–1920
Special Notes
The superscribed notes were to be withdrawn once the new Australian notes were issued but, because of a shortage of notes following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, were kept in circulation and special notes were produced.
An
'emergency issue' of the one pound note, which came to be known as the
Rainbow Note, was circulated in 1914.
A more basic note, it could be printed relatively quickly and had no security features. Consequently, counterfeits soon appeared and the note was withdrawn from April 1915.
Another
special note, a five shilling denomination, was prepared for issue during
1916 when a rise in the price of silver was expected to make the silver
in the coins more expensive than the value of the coins themselves.
This note, the first to carry a portrait of the Monarch, was never issued.
