This 2013 Twenty Cent piece was issued as part of the three coin set celebrating a century since the introduction of banknotes
in Australia. The reverse was designed by A. Baggio and pays homage to
the design used on Australia's first five pound note. These early notes included iconic images from Australian industries,
the image featured here is of the Hawksebury River in New South Wales where construction of Australia's largest river railway
bridge began in 1889.
(Reserve Bank of Australia, 2017)
The obverse of the coin has the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of HM Queen
Elizabeth II with the
legend
"ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2013".
During the late 19th century bank notes backed by gold were issued by commercial banks around Australia.
(Reserve Bank of Australia, 2017)
After federation an act of parliament gave the Commonwealth Treasury absolute responsibility for issuing bank notes and
removed legal tender status from commercially issued notes. The first government issued banknote, a ten shilling note, was
created on the first of May 1913. Over the coming years a number of denomination notes were created - including One, Five,
Ten, Twenty, Fifty and One Hundred Pound notes. Banknotes of the Australian Pound continued to be issued until the introduction
of Decimal Currency in 1967.
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