The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is in the process of redesigning the country’s banknotes with an emphasis on new security features. Following in the footsteps of the $5 and $10 notes, we now have a new $50 version – and we’re beginning to come around to the updates.
From October 1 2018, the new $50 bank note will begin to enter circulation in small numbers. The note still depicts portraits of David Unaipon, the Aboriginal writer and inventor, and Edith Cowan, Australia’s first female MP. It’s also identical in size to the old note (65mm by 151mm), retains the familiar colour scheme and is made from the same materials. So what’s new?
As with the previous updates, the new $50 note has been given a colourful “tactile strip” to aid the vision-impaired. There’s also a black swan and wattle in fluorescent ink that become visible under UV light. If you’ve got a microscope handy, you can now find microprinted text at multiple locations on the banknote, including excerpts from David Unaipon’s Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines.
Here are both sides of the new banknote:
We’ve got to say, we’re quite liking these new-look banknotes which are among the most technologically sophisticated in the world. Despite most people hating the $5 note back in 2016, we think we prefer the new design over the old. They’re really growing on us.
What do you think of the new Australian banknotes? Let fly in the comments!
[referenced url=”https://staging.lifehacker.com.au/2014/04/the-australian-da-vinci-how-david-unaipon-almost-changed-our-nation/” thumb=”https://www.gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/03/UnaiponNote.jpg” title=”How David Unaipon (Almost) Changed Our Nation” excerpt=”David Unaipon has been pictured on the front of Australia’s $50 note since 1995. A hugely intelligent man who nonetheless left school at 13, he lodged 19 patents during his life, revolutionised sheep shearing, devoted much of his time to attempting to achieve perpetual motion, wrote prolifically, and conceptualised the helicopter two decades before it became a reality. This is his story.”]
[Via RBA]
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