Catalog
50 Dollars
| Issuer | Reserve Bank of Australia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1973-1994 |
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| Currency | Dollar (1966-date) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | AUSTRALIA FIFTY DOLLARS THIS AUSTRALIAN NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA AND ITS TERRITORIES GOVERNOR, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY |
| Reverse description | Intaglio bust portrait of Sir Ian Clunies Ross in left profile at centre-left, surrounded by a detailed composite vignette illustrating scientific and technological research themes, including space research imagery, circuit patterns, agricultural motifs, and molecular structures, rendered against a warm gold and green guilloche underprint. Numeral '50' appears at upper left and lower right, with 'AUSTRALIA' inscribed across the top. |
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| Comments |
Australia's first $50 note entered circulation in 1973 as part of the decimal series that had launched in 1966, filling a gap between the $20 and $100 that the Reserve Bank had initially hesitated to create, fearing it would prove too convenient for tax evasion and cash-heavy transactions. The note ran for over two decades under eight different signature combinations — an unusually long lifespan that generated significant variation in serial typography, most notably the mid-run shift from the plain Johnston & Fraser font to the OCR-style variant, a detail that trips up collectors who assume the series is monolithic.
Replaced in 1995 by the polymer $50, the cotton paper issue now attracts steady collector interest, particularly the earlier Phillips & Wheeler examples.