Australian Banknotes

All the world's polymer starts here. In 1988, the Reserve Bank of Australia issued the first general circulation plastic banknote in history, a 10-dollar commemorative for the bicentennial, and by 1996, there wasn't a single paper banknote left in the country.

Why they did it

Because of counterfeiting. In the early eighties, 10-dollar imitations made with color photocopiers appeared, and the central bank decided the answer was not to improve the paper but to change the material. The result was the transparent window, impossible to reproduce with a printer, which more than fifty countries now copy.

Who is on them

The current series features Mary Reibey, a deported convict who ended up being one of the colony's wealthiest businesswomen; David Unaipon, an Aboriginal inventor and intellectual; and Edith Cowan, the first woman in the Australian parliament. Previous ones featured Elizabeth II on the 5-dollar note.

What you will find here

Australian dollars with Pick reference and actual grade, within our polymer banknotes collection.

Shipping

Always flat and protected, with tracking from Spain.

Discover more banknotes from the region in Oceania Banknotes.