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5 Pounds Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd.
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of Australia Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917-1919 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central scenic vignette of a river landscape flanked by a kangaroo at left and an emu at right, the two animals serving as heraldic supporters to the bank title arch above. Elaborate lathe-work guilloche rosettes occupy the left and right panels, each bearing the numeral 5, with small portrait medallions at the corners. The entire design is executed in green intaglio printing. |
| Reverse lettering | THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED FIVE POUNDS |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of Australia Limited was one of the few Australian private trading banks still issuing its own notes into the World War I period — a practice that would effectively end with the 1910 Australian Notes Act, though existing private notes remained legal tender until 1914 and continued circulating informally for some years after. By 1917, this series was already an anachronism. The Commonwealth Bank had long assumed the dominant note-issuing role, and private bank paper was being steadily withdrawn from active use.
Waterlow & Sons produced this note at their London operation, as they did for a significant portion of Australasian colonial and private bank issues. The CBA was absorbed into the National Bank of Australasia in 1981, but its note-issuing history had ended six decades earlier.