5 Pounds

The Bank of Adelaide was a relatively minor South Australian institution, absorbed into the Union Bank of Australia in 1917. This note predates that merger, placing it in the bank's final independent decade — a period when Australian private bank currency was already under sustained pressure from the Commonwealth Bank, established in 1911.

Private banknote issuance in Australia continued legally until 1910 legislation imposed a prohibitive tax on non-government notes, effectively ending the era. A note from this date sits at precisely that threshold.