5 Pounds - Victoria Union Bank of Australia Limited

The Union Bank of Australia was a London-incorporated institution — not an Australian one in any practical sense of governance — and that relationship with British capital is reflected in the consistent use of Waterlow & Sons throughout the bank's note-issuing history. Waterlow produced high-quality intaglio work for colonial and dominion banks across the Empire, and the Union Bank's notes were among the more technically accomplished circulating in Australia during the interwar period.

By 1923, the writing was already on the wall for private banknote issue in Australia. The Commonwealth Bank had been issuing notes since 1913, and legislative pressure to consolidate the currency was building steadily. This note dates from the tail end of a practice that would effectively end within the decade.