Australian ten-dollar note

{{short description|Current denomination of Australian currency}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Use Australian English|date=December 2013}} {{Infobox banknote | country = Australia | denomination = Ten dollars | value = 10 | unit = Australian dollars | width_mm = 137 | height_mm = 65 | security_features = Window, Watermark | paper_type = Polymer | years_of_printing = 1993–94, 1996–98, 2002–03, 2006–2008, 2012–2013, 2015, 2017<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://banknotes.rba.gov.au/resources/for-collectors/serial-numbers|title = Serial Numbers}}</ref> | obverse = 2017 Australian ten dollar note obverse.jpg | obverse_design = Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson | obverse_designer = emerystudios | obverse_design_date = 20 September 2017 | reverse = 2017 Australian ten dollar note reverse.jpg | reverse_design = Dame Mary Gilmore | reverse_designer = emerystudios | reverse_design_date = 20 September 2017 }} The '''Australian ten-dollar note''' was one of the four original decimal banknotes (excluding the Australian five-dollar note) that were issued when the Australian currency was changed from the Australian pound to the Australian dollar on 14 February 1966. It replaced the Australian five-pound note, which included the same blue colouration. There have been four different issues of this denomination: a paper banknote; a commemorative hi-polymer note, to celebrate the bicentennial of Australian settlement (the first polymer banknote of its kind); the 1993–2017 polymer note; and from September 2017 a polymer note featuring a transparent window.

In June 2017, there were 128 million $10 notes in circulation, with a net value of $1.280 billion.<ref name=rba-stats-100/> This was 2% of the cash value of all banknotes in circulation, and 8% of the number of all banknotes in circulation.<ref name=rba-stats-100>{{cite web |title=DISTRIBUTION-CIRCULATION AND PRODUCTION STATISTICS, AS AT END JUNE 2017 |url=http://banknotes.rba.gov.au/production-and-distribution/distribution/ |website=banknotes.rba.gov.au |publisher=Reserve Bank of Australia |accessdate=20 December 2017}}</ref>

Since the start of issue of $10 notes, there have been eleven signature combinations, of which the 1967 issue is the most valued. It was issued for one year, along with the Coombs/Wilson issue of 1966.

Following the issue of a new $5 note in September 2016, the RBA revealed the design for the new $10 note, which was issued in September 2017.<ref>[http://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2017/mr-17-04.html Next Generation of Banknotes: $10 Design Reveal] Reserve Bank of Australia (www.rba.gov.au). 17 February 2017. Retrieved on 2017-02-18.</ref>

==Printing== {{more citations needed|date=May 2025}} From 1966 to 1974, the main title identifying Australia was ''Commonwealth of Australia''. There were 470,000,000 notes issued in this period. This was changed to ''Australia'' until the end of issue of paper currency for this denomination in 1993, with 1,265,959,091 of these notes being printed. In the 1988 polymer issue, 17,500,000 banknotes were printed and was the new Australia 10-dollar note.

==Design==

=== Paper note === The people depicted on the paper note issue are architect Francis Greenway, previously a convicted forger, on the obverse along with public buildings he helped construct, and Henry Lawson on the reverse with his poetry and scenes of the outback gold-mining town of Gulgong in the 19th century, including the Times Bakery.<ref>[http://www.rba.gov.au/Museum/Displays/1960_1988_rba_and_reform_of_the_currency/australias_first_decimal_currency_notes.html Australia's first decimal currency notes] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050822211554/http://www.rba.gov.au/Museum/Displays/1960_1988_rba_and_reform_of_the_currency/australias_first_decimal_currency_notes.html |date=22 August 2005 }} retrieved 20 January 2008</ref>

{| |- |[[File:Australian $10 note paper front.jpg|left|thumb|220px|Francis Greenway ]] |[[File:Australian $10 note paper back.jpg|left|thumb|220px|Henry Lawson ]] |}

=== Polymer note === The polymer note, designed by Max Robinson, features Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson on the obverse, with a horse from the Snowy Mountains region, and a wattle plant, and his signature. His poetry is in the background. Dame Mary Gilmore is on the reverse, with a bullock train and verses from her poetry. Her signature is included. A windmill is in the clear window with the raised wavy lines.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/banknotes-in-circulation/ten-dollar/|title = $10 Banknote}}</ref> The $10 note of 2017 retains the themes of the original, with this issue featuring the Bramble Wattle (''Acacia victoriae'') and the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (''Cacatua galerita'').<ref>[http://banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/next-generation-banknotes-program/ NEXT GENERATION BANKNOTE PROGRAM] Reserve Bank of Australia (www.rba.gov.au). Retrieved on 2017-02-18.</ref>

{| |- |thumb|left|220px|1993–2017 polymer note (obverse) |thumb|left|220px|1993–2017 polymer note (reverse) |}

=== 1988 Commemorative note === The obverse design included the sailing ship HMS ''Supply'' anchored at Sydney Cove, with the early colony in the background. Above are people who symbolise all who have contributed to Australia, from the early settlers on the left, to the modern working man on the right.

The reverse design reflects the Australian Aboriginal culture and peoples. The main picture is an Aboriginal youth with ceremonial paint by Wayne Williams, with a Morning Star Pole by Terry Yumbulul, other Aboriginal artworks commissioned by the Bank, and a human-like figure from Dreamtime mythology.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://museum.rba.gov.au/exhibitions/pocket-guides/the-reinvention-of-banknotes/the-reinvention-of-banknotes.html |title=The Reinvention of Banknotes |access-date=2021-07-25 |website=Reserve Bank of Australia}}</ref> Yumbulul was criticised from within the Aboriginal community for permitting the reproduction of the pole by the bank and sued the Reserve Bank for breach of copyright. The bank had commissioned an agent to obtain approval, and Yumbulul claimed the agent had misled and deceived him.<ref name="Yumbulul 1991 FCA 332"/><ref name=nswed3/>

A Morning Star Pole is culturally significant to the Galpu clan and Yumbulul's right to make the pole came with an obligation to "ensure that it is not used or reproduced in a way that offends against their perceptions of its significance".<ref name="Yumbulul 1991 FCA 332">{{cite AustLII|FCA|332|1991|litigants=Yumbulul v Reserve Bank of Australia |date=25 July 1991 |courtname=Federal Court}}.</ref><ref name=nswed3>{{cite web | title=Case study 3: Terry Yumbulul and the ten-dollar note | website=NSW Educational Standards Authority | url=https://ab-ed.nesa.nsw.edu.au/go/aboriginal-art/protecting-australian-indigenous-art/case-studies-of-copying-and-appropriation/case-study-3-terry-yumbulul-and-the-ten-dollar-note | access-date=23 July 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302163156/https://ab-ed.nesa.nsw.edu.au/go/aboriginal-art/protecting-australian-indigenous-art/case-studies-of-copying-and-appropriation/case-study-3-terry-yumbulul-and-the-ten-dollar-note| archive-date=2 March 2021| url-status=live}}</ref> The Reserve Bank settled the case against it. The claim against the agent went to trial. Justice Robert French held that the copyright had been validly assigned and that, while Yumbulul may not have fully appreciated the implications of what he was doing in terms of his own cultural obligations, the agent had not engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct.<ref name="Yumbulul 1991 FCA 332"/><ref name=nswed3/>

{| |- |thumb|left|220px|1988 commemorative polymer note (obverse) |thumb|left|220px|1988 commemorative polymer note (reverse) |}

==Security features==

The paper design included a watermark in the white field of Captain James Cook. The watermark was also used in the last issue of pound banknotes. A metallic strip, first near the centre of the note, then from 1976 moved to the left side on the obverse of the note.<ref name="Security Features Overview">{{Cite web|url=http://banknotes.rba.gov.au/counterfeit-detection/security-features-overview|title = Security Features Overview}}</ref><ref name="Banknote Features">{{Cite web|url=http://banknotes.rba.gov.au/banknote-features/|title = Banknote Features}}</ref>

The polymer issue includes a shadow image of the coat of arms which is printed over. Embossing or a raised image is in the clear window of wavy lines. Fluorescent colouring was added to the serial numbers. A star with four points on the obverse and three on the reverse which join under light. Raised print and microprinting of the poem ''The Man from Snowy River'' and the denomination value are included.<ref name="Security Features Overview"/><ref name="Banknote Features"/> The ''1988 Commemorative'' issue includes an optically variable device of Captain James Cook, who first mapped Botany Bay.

==References== {{Portal|Australia|Money|Numismatics}} {{reflist}} {{refbegin}} * {{cite book | title=Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values | edition= 19th | editor=Ian W. Pitt | publisher=Renniks Publications | location = Chippendale, NSW | year=2000 | isbn=0-9585574-4-6 | pages = 170–172}} {{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian 10 Dollar Note}} Category:Banknotes of Australia Category:Ten-base-unit banknotes Category:Currencies introduced in 1966 Category:Australian bicentennial commemorations