Reserve Bank of Australia

In Timeline

Timeline: 1971–1990

Australia experiences rapid economic and social change. In 1988, it celebrates the Bicentenary of the First Settlement. Inflation becomes a major problem, requiring the issue of larger-value decimal currency notes. Polymer currency note technology is developed.

Photograph showing a tall ship surrounded by many boats on Sydney Harbour during the Bicentenary of the First Settlement celebrations Image showing the front of a $100 note featuring the portrait of Sir Douglas Mawson

1971

Australia breaks the fixed link of the $A to the $US.

1972

Women receive equal pay.

1973

A $50 decimal currency note is issued.

Image showing the front of a $50 note featuring the portrait of Sir Howard Florey

Patrick White becomes the first Australian to win the Nobel Prize for literature.
The Sydney Opera House is opened.

Photograph taken at the opening of the Sydney Opera House on 20 October 1973

1974

The Bankcard (credit card) system is introduced.

1976

The $A is devalued by 17.6 per cent and Australia moves to arrangements for adjustment of the exchange rate against a trade-weighted currency basket.

1977

Australia wins the Centenary cricket test in Melbourne by the same margin (45 runs) as in 1877.

1979

Australia's economic performance deteriorates through the 1970s; inflation and unemployment both rise (stagflation) and economic growth is modest.

1980

Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) are introduced.

1981

Note printing operations are moved from Fitzroy to Craigieburn, Victoria.

Australia's population reaches 15 million.

1983

The $A is floated and exchange controls abolished.

1984

The decision to replace the $1 note by a $1 coin is announced with the new coin issued in 1984.

A $100 decimal currency note is issued.

Image showing the back of a $100 note featuring the portrait of John Tebbutt

The 1980s sees extensive deregulation of the Australian financial system.

The first of 16 foreign banks granted a banking licence by the Government opens in Australia.

1987

Share prices suffer a record fall in October in the worst crash since 1929.

1988

The first currency note - $10 - using new polymer technology developed by the RBA and the CSIRO is issued. It commemorates the Bicentenary of the First Settlement.

Image showing the front of the Commemorative $10 polymer note

The $2 note is replaced by a $2 coin.

Australia celebrates the Bicentenary of the First Settlement.
The new Parliament House, Canberra, is opened.

Arial photograph of the new Parliament House, Canberra opened on 9 May 1988

1990

Note Printing Branch becomes a self-sufficient business enterprise called Note Printing Australia (NPA).

NPA secures its first export order, for a commemorative polymer note, from Singapore.

Image showing a commemorative $50 polymer note from Singapore