Australian Banknote issuers [solved]

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This message aims at: requesting the creation or the modification of an issuing entity

Status: Done
Upvotes: 4
Downvotes: 0

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Please add the following note issuers for Australia.
This list does not include issuers for Colonial Australia.

Treasury 1910 - 1920
Note Issue Dept. 1920 - 1924
Commonwealth Bank of Australia 1924 – 1959
Reserve Bank 1960 – to date

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Notes_Tax_Act_1910
https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/history/
2019 Rennicks Australian Coin and Banknote Values (29th Edition) Edited by Michael Pitt Page 227

Regards
Serverlan
Status changed to Started (stratocaster, 18-May-2020, 21:36)
Hello,
Which notes would be issued by the Notes Issue Department?
Regards
:wiz:
Hi,
With regard to which notes were issued by the Note Issue Dept the following extract from the Reserve Bank website indicates that notes issued from 1920 to 1924 would show this. Although there are some later £5 notes showing Note Issue Dept probably due to slow replacement of printing plates.

Extract:
"In 1920, the responsibility for banknote issue was transferred from the Commonwealth Treasury to a Board of Directors, with four members appointed by the Commonwealth Government. The Governor of the Commonwealth Bank was an ex officio member and Chairman. The Commonwealth Bank and the Notes Board, however, were formally independent of one another. At the same time, the administration of the banknote issue was taken over by a special department of the Commonwealth Bank.Australia's economy and its population were also continuing to grow at this time, placing increasing pressure on the banknote printer's resources to meet the rising public demand for banknotes. Consequently, a larger establishment, in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, was commissioned in 1924.

In 1924, with the establishment of a Commonwealth Bank Board, responsibility for the issue of banknotes now passed from the Notes Board to the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Bank. In 1945, the Commonwealth Bank Act formally established the Commonwealth Bank as sole legal issuer of Australian banknotes. In 1960, this role passed to the Reserve Bank of Australia, which assumed responsibility for the central banking functions, including banknote issue. The Reserve Bank Act 1959 stipulates, among other things, that Australian banknotes be printed by, or under the authority of, the Reserve Bank."

I hope this answers your question or are you referring to the actual denominations?
From 1910 to 1913 Private Bank and Queensland State Government banknotes were superscribed (overprinted) and issued by the Treasury.

Regards,
Serverlan
Right.
I think I see the confusion with the Banknotes issued by the Note Issue Dept. The banknotes themselves say
"Note Issue Dept.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia"
While the Note Issue Dept. was administered by the Commonwealth Bank the Note Issue Dept. was a separate legal entity. The Governor of the Commonwealth Bank was also the Chairman of the board of the Note Issue Dept. thus making it harder to distinguish which entity issued the banknotes. I would contend that it is the Note Issue Dept. but would accept adding Commonwealth Bank of Australia as part of the name.

Regards
Serverlan
The pre-1910 banknotes would need to be listed under the Colony of issue (prior to 1 January 1901) & the State of issue (1 January 1901 onwards), then by issuing entity.

A similar arrangement applies to the Postal Notes & Postal Orders issued in Australia itself.

Aidan.
Quote: "BCNumismatics"​The pre-1910 banknotes would need to be listed under the Colony of issue (prior to 1 January 1901) & the State of issue (1 January 1901 onwards), then by issuing entity.

​A similar arrangement applies to the Postal Notes & Postal Orders issued in Australia itself.

​Aidan.
​Hello Aidan,
Yes, that would be my next step for private banks and state government banknote issuers. There are close to 60 issuers. I think using the current sub-heading of Colonial Australia rather than creating a sub-heading for each colony would be the way to go. Some banks operated in more than one state, eg the Bank of New South Wales (Established 1817) had 23 branches of issue in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Thank you for your response,
Richard
Richard,
Some of the Australian trading banks also had branches in New Zealand as well - & issued notes from them.

Of course, they are classed as New Zealand banknotes.

Colonial Australia applies to the period 1788 to 1900, but Australian States had their own notes after 1 January 1901.

1 January 1901 is when the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia came into effect - then the colonies became states.

Aidan.
Hello Aidan,

Yes again, I'm not working on New Zealand so I'm not too concerned about notes issued there.
The Queensland Government after 1901 was the only state issuing banknotes, however private banks were still issuing banknotes up until 1910. The Australian Notes Act of 1910 prohibited states from issuing notes and the Bank Notes Tax Act of the same year put a tax of 10% per annum on all banknotes issued thus making it uneconomical for private banks to issue banknotes. So yes there will be more issuers to be added for Australia but the ones listed in my original message cover most of the banknotes issued after federation.
Kind regards,
Richard (8 from the land down under.
Richard,
I am in New Zealand myself.

Here is a listing of pre-1913 Australian banknotes - including some Specimen notes;

http://banknote.ws/COLLECTION/countries/AUS/AUS/AUS-SUP.htm .

Aidan.
Status changed to Done (Jarcek, 13-Dec-2022, 12:54)

I just added these.

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