Summary

100 Dollars bank note, Australia, 2020 AD.

'Next Generation' 100 Dollar polymer bank note in presentation folder, officially issued on 29 October 2020. Note depicts Dame Nellie Melba (obverse) and the Sir John Monash (reverse). This new series of bank note were specially designed with anti forgery and vision impaired features. Each new bank note in the set (to be released around 'Wattle Day' (1 September) each year for 5 years) will also feature a different species of wattle and a different species of Australian native bird.

Printed by Note Printing Australia, a division of the Reserve Bank of Australia, in Craigieburn, Victoria, 2020. The Next Generation Bank Note Project was established in 2007 and was publicly announced in 2012.

Features include: Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha); Australian Masked Owl (Tyto novaehollandiae) in optically variable ink (OVI) (rolling colour effect); clear top-to-bottom window featuring: three-dimensional holographic fan, Masked Owl flying and sitting, and a stylised Shrine of Remembrance; 'tactile feature' (five raised bumps) for vision impaired people; reversing '100'; intaglio (raised) text; micro printing (including extracts from Dame Melba's autobiography 'Melodies and Memories' and a letter written by John Monash); images of Dame Melba in costume as Rosina in Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini in 1896, monogram from the cover of Melba's homecoming concert tour programme in 1902, Monash surveying on the Outer Circle railway line in Melbourne in 1889, the Fyansford Bridge and the Shrine of Remembrance with red poppies; 'Kinegram Zero. Zero' foil stripe supplied by Leonhard Kurz, Germany; and images and text (Masked Owl and wattle branch, serial number and year of manufacture) that fluoresce under UV light.

Designed by emerystudio in Melbourne, Victoria. The portrait of Dame Nellie Melba is based on a photograph in 'Melba: A Biography', published in 1909 by Agnes G. Murphy, who was Melba's secretary. The portrait of Sir John Monash is based on a photograph taken in 1912 from the collection of the National Library of Australia.

Made from polymer biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP).

The new notes were released in 2016 with much fanfare and public debate over the (inaccurately called) 'braille' feature, the bright colours, and the fact that a top-to-bottom window meant that vending and gambling machines rejected the note. Upgrading software has since alleviated this problem.

In 2016, for the first time, the Reserve Bank of Australia did not produce any specimen copies of these bank notes. This has continued from 2017 to 2020. The $100 Next Generation bank note is the final bank note to be released in this series.

Physical Description

Cardboard folder printed predominantly green. Pale '100' and detail of Owl on the cover. Information about the bank note is printed inside the folder. Predominantly green polymer bank note is sealed into folder with Sir John Monash (reverse) visible. On the back of the folder is an image of the Shrine of Remembrance with poppies and the Reserve Bank of Australia contact details.

Obverse Description

Portrait of Dame Nellie Melba with an image of a younger Dame Nellie Melba and monogram on the right hand side. Clear window with wattle, compass, owl and building in the centre with stylised owl and signatures on left hand side.

Reverse Description

Image of Shrine of Remembrance and portrait of Sir John Monash on left hand side. Clear window with wattle, fan, owl and building in the centre with Sir John Monash as a surveyor and The Fyansford Bridge on right hand side.

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