5 Dollars Centenary of Federation

The 2001 dated $5 was issued to mark the centenary of Australian federation, making it one of the very few commemorative notes in the Reserve Bank's history to circulate as legal tender alongside the standard series rather than being sold as a collector item at a premium. Note Printing Australia had by this point fully refined the polymer substrate technology that the Reserve Bank and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation had developed through the 1980s — Australia remained the only country manufacturing its own polymer notes domestically.

Pick 56 shares the same substrate dimensions as the regular $5 issue, which caused some initial public confusion at point of sale.