Australian one-pound note


The Australian one-pound note was the most prevalent banknote in circulation with the pound series, with the last series of 1953–66 having 1,066 million banknotes printed. The first banknotes issued were superscribed notes purchased from 15 banks across Australia and printed with Australian Note and were payable in gold.

Historic £1 note

In May 2015, the National Library of Australia announced that it had discovered the first £1 banknote printed by the Commonwealth of Australia, among a collection of specimen banknotes. This uncirculated Australian Pound note, with the serial number P000001, was the first piece of currency to carry the Coat of Arms of Australia, and carries the imprinted signatures of George Allen and James Collins. Soon after its production in 1913, it was presented to the then Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher, who retained it until 1927 when he gave it to then prime minister Stanley Bruce for donation to the Parliamentary Library. At that time, the National Library was part of the Parliamentary Library. There is a contemporaneous record in the National Archives of the accession of the note into the national collection. The curator of the collection said that the note had been placed it into a conservation sleeve sometime in the past 30 years, and that notes with similar rarity and provenance and age to this note, have been sold for over A$1m.

Signature combinations

and Allen
and James Collins
Miller and James Collins
Kell and James Collins
Kell and James Heathershaw
Ernest Riddle and James Heathershaw
Ernest Riddle and Sheehan
Sheehan and McFarlane
and McFarlane
H.C. Coombs and George Watt
H.C. Coombs and Wilson

Footnotes