Australian fifty-dollar note

File:Australian $50 note polymer front.jpg

The front of the current fifty dollar note.

The back of the current fifty dollar note.

The front of the paper fifty dollar note, circulated between 1973 and 1995.

the back of the paper fifty dollar note, circulated between 1973 and 1995.

The Australian fifty dollar note is an Australian banknote with a face value of fifty Australian dollars ($50, AUD50). It is currently a polymer banknote, featuring portraits of David Unaipon and Edith Cowan.

History

A fifty dollar note was not released as part of the initial rollout of decimal currency in 1966, but inflation necessitated its introduction seven years later in 1973. The original fifty dollar note, designed by Gordon Andrews, had a scientific theme. On the front of the note was a portrait of Australian pathologist Sir Howard Florey and scenes of laboratory research. On the back was a portrait of Sir Ian Clunies Ross, veterinary scientist and first chairman of the CSIRO, along with scenes from the Australian environment and outer space.

On 4 October 1995 a new set of polymer banknotes were released. Designed by Brian Sadgrove, the new fifty dollar note features a portrait of Indigenous Australian author and inventor David Unaipon on the front, along with drawings from one of his inventions, and an extract from the original manuscript of his Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines. On the back is a portrait of Edith Cowan, first female member of any Australian parliament, along with a picture of Western Australia's original Parliament House, and an illustration of a foster mother and children.