Five Australian Dollars Banknote

Country: Australia
Issuer: Reserve Bank of Australia
Type: Horizontal note
Material: Paper
Size: 130 × 65 mm
Signature: Philip Lowe
Serial: DA 1 8 0 5 9 1 3 8 4

The story

The Next Generation $5 was issued on 1 September 2016 (Wattle Day). It was the first of a series in which each note shows a different wattle species and a native bird. The $5 uses the Prickly Moses wattle and the Eastern Spinebill, which lives in forests and ranges from Queensland to Tasmania and South Australia. The portrait comes from photographs commissioned by the RBA in 1984. The Federation Pavilion in the window was the site of the ceremony that proclaimed the Commonwealth of Australia. On the back, the forecourt mosaic of Parliament House is based on a Central Desert painting by Michael Nelson Jagamara. The RBA has said King Charles III will not appear on the next $5 note, which will carry a First Nations design, while Parliament House stays on the back.

Front

Engraved portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with a pearl necklace and earring (no name is printed, catalogues and the RBA identify her), top-to-bottom clear window with yellow Prickly Moses wattle sprigs, 3D Commonwealth (Federation) Star, Eastern Spinebill bird, Federation Pavilion at the bottom of the window, second clear window with a starburst behind the portrait, iridescent bird and green wattle foliage on the left, honeycomb-pattern background, signatures of Philip Lowe and John Fraser, text “AUSTRALIA”, “LEGAL TENDER THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA”, “GOVERNOR, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA” and “SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY”.

Back

New Parliament House in Canberra with flagpole, flag and the coat of arms on the roof, Forecourt Mosaic (“Possum and Wallaby Dreaming”), schematic plan of Parliament House, geometric patterns from the building’s architecture, pink dot motifs, top-to-bottom clear window with wattle, Commonwealth Star, a perched bird and the Federation Pavilion, golden-green metallic wattle shape, dark circular element with radial rays and a dotted crescent, text “AUSTRALIA”.