20 Pounds

The Bank of Adelaide was a relatively minor South Australian institution, and large-denomination private bank notes like this £20 were instruments of commerce rather than everyday currency — passing between merchants, squatters, and pastoral agents rather than circulating through ordinary retail trade. By 1910, the era of Australian private bank note issue was already winding down, with federation having created pressure toward a unified national currency that would arrive in 1910–11 through the Australian Notes Act.

Surviving examples of this issue are genuinely rare. High-denomination private notes were frequently cancelled and destroyed once redeemed, and the Bank of Adelaide's relatively modest note-issuing volume compared to the colonial giants means documented survivors are few.