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5 Pounds Commonwealth Bank
| Issuer | Commonwealth Bank of Australia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1954-1959 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound (1788-1966) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A symmetrical intaglio vignette in blue spans the full width of the note, centred on a boomerang motif backed by a shield and surrounded by pastoral and agricultural imagery including a bull, rams, sheep, and a cow amid sheaves of wheat, fruit, and foliage. The denomination £5 appears in each corner, with COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA lettered along the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | Commonwealth of Australia £5 |
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| Comments |
The Coombs/Wilson signature combination places this note in the mid-to-late 1950s, a period when the Commonwealth Bank was already being carved up legislatively — the Reserve Bank of Australia was formally separated from it in 1960, ending the peculiar dual role the Commonwealth Bank had played as both a trading bank and a central bank since 1911. Notes from this transitional window carry the old issuing authority's name but were produced by a printing operation that would survive the split intact.
H.C. Coombs, as Governor, signed across two institutional identities before and after the separation. Wilson replaced him as Secretary to the Treasury, not as bank governor — the signature pairing here reflects the Treasury co-signatory arrangement rather than two banking officials.