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The superscribed notes were to be withdrawn once the new Australian notes were issued but, because of a shortage of notes following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, were kept in circulation and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 Consequently, counterfeits soon appeared and the note was withdrawn from April 1915.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.