Australian ten-dollar note

Ten dollars

(Australia)
Value	10 Australian dollars
Width	137 mm
Height	65cfs mm
Security features	Window, Watermark
Material used	Polymer
Years of printing	1993–94, 1996–98, 2002–03, 2006–2008, 2012–2013, 2015, 2017 [1]
Obverse
Design	Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson
Designer	emerystudios
Design date	20 September 2017
Reverse
Design	Dame Mary Gilmore
Designer	emerystudios
Design date	20 September 2017

The Australian ten-dollar note was issued when the currency was changed from the Australian pound to the Australian dollar on 14 February 1966; it replaced the £5 note which included the same blue colouration. There have been four different issues of this denomination, a paper banknote, a commemorative hipolymer note to celebrate the bicentennial of Australian settlement (the first polymer banknote of its kind), the 1993-2017 polymer note, and from September 2017 a polymer note featuring a transparent window.

According to Reserve Bank of Australia statistics, as at June 2017 there were 128 million $10 notes in circulation, with a net value of $1.280 billion. This was 2% of the cash value of all banknotes in circulation, and 8% of the number of all banknotes in circulation.^[2]

Since the start of issue of $10 notes, there have been eleven signature combinations, of which the 1967 issue is the most valued. It was issued for one year only, along with the Coombs/Wilson issue of 1966.

Following the issue of a new $5 note in September 2016, the RBA revealed the design for the $10 note and was issued on the 20th of September, 2017.^[3]

Printing[]

From 1966 to 1974 the main title identifying the country was Commonwealth of Australia; there were 470,000,000 notes issued in this period. This was subsequently changed to Australia until the end of issue of paper currency for this denomination in 1993, with 1,265,959,091 of these notes being printed. In the 1988 polymer issue 17,500,000 banknotes were printed and was the new Australia's 10 dollar note.

Design[]

Paper note[]

The people depicted on the paper note issue are architect Francis Greenway, previously convicted forger, on the obverse along with public buildings he helped construct, and Henry Lawson on the reverse with his poetry and scenes of the outback gold mining town of Gulgong in the 19th century including the Times Bakery.^[4]

Francis Greenway

Henry Lawson

Polymer note[]

The polymer note, designed by Max Robinson, features Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson on the obverse with a horse from the Snowy Mountains region, and a wattle plant, also included is his signature. His poetry is in the background. Dame Mary Gilmore is on the reverse with 19th-century heavy transport with horse and cart and verses from her poetry. Her signature is included. A windmill is in the clear window with the raised wavy lines.^[5] The $10 note of 2017 retains the themes of the original, with this issue featuring the Bramble Wattle (Acacia victoriae) and the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita).^[6]

1993-2017 polymer note—obverse

1993-2017 polymer note—reverse

1988 Commemorative note[]

Obverse design included the sailing ship HMS Supply anchored at Sydney Cove with the early colony in the background. Above are people who symbolise all who have contributed to Australia, from left the early settlers to right the modern working man.

Reverse reflects the Australian Aboriginal culture and peoples. The main picture is an Aboriginal youth with ceremonial paint by Wayne Williams, with a Morning Star Pole by Terry Yumbulul, other Aboriginal artworks commissioned by the Bank and a human like figure from Dreamtime mythology.^[7] Yumbulul was criticised from within the Aboriginal community for permitting the reproduction of the pole by the bank and sued the Reserve Bank for breach of copyright. The bank had commissioned an agent to obtain approval and Yumbulul claimed the agent had misled and deceived him. A Morning Star Pole is culturally significant to the Galpu clan and Yumbulul's right to make the pole came with an obligation to "ensure that it is not used or reproduced in a way that offends against their perceptions of its significance".^[8][9] The Reserve Bank settled the case against it, however the claim against the agent went to trial. Justice Robert French held that the copyright had been validly assigned and that while Yumbulul may not have fully appreciated the implications of what he was doing in terms of his own cultural obligations, the agent had not engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct.^[8][9]

1988 commemorative polymer note—obverse

1988 commemorative polymer note—reverse

Security features[]

The paper design included a watermark in the white field of Captain James Cook, the watermark was also used in the last issue of pound banknotes. A metallic strip, first near the centre of the note, then from 1976 moved to the left side on the obverse of the note. Polymer issue includes a shadow image of the coat of arms which is printed over. Embossing or a raised image in the clear window of wavy lines. Also for this issue fluorescent colouring was added to the serial numbers. A star with four points on the obverse and three on the reverse which join under light. Raised print and micro printing of the poem The Man from Snowy River and the denomination value are included.^[10][11]

1988 Commemorative This issue includes an optically variable device of Captain James Cook, who first mapped Botany Bay.

References[]