Next generation of Australian banknotes
Source: RBA
The new $5 polymer banknote was issued on 1 September 2016.
This is the first denomination in the new banknote series, and the fourth polymer $5 banknote issued since 1992.
The banknote has a range of innovative new security features designed to keep the banknote secure from counterfeiting into the future.
Each denomination in the new series of banknotes will feature a different species of Australian wattle and a native bird within a number of the security features. On the $5 banknote, these are the Prickly Moses wattle (Acacia verticillata subsp. ovoidea) and the Eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris).
The new $5 banknote retains the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, which is drawn from the same source photograph represented on the first polymer $5 banknote. The banknote also depicts New Parliament House and the Forecourt Mosaic, which is based on a Central Desert dot-style painting by Michael Nelson Jagamara titled ‘Possum and Wallaby Dreaming’ and a schematic plan of the New Parliament House. This was based on the Design Development Landscape Plan, which was provided by the Parliament House Construction Authority.
The Australian five-dollar note was first issued on 29 May 1967, one year after the currency was changed from the Australian pound to the Australian dollar on 14 February 1966.
Image: RBA
