How to Tell When an Australian Paper Banknote Was Printed

Australian paper decimal banknotes were first introduced in February 1966 and were gradually replaced with polymer notes between 1992 and 1996.

Determining the year that an Australian polymer banknote was printed is fairly straightforward - the last two digits of the year are included in the serial number prefix. Australian paper banknotes were printed differently, so our job is a little bit harder.

Identify the Signatures on the Front

Each Australian paper decimal note has two signatures on the front of it - the people who were the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Secretary to the Commonwealth Treasury at the time the notes were printed.

These signatures on the front of Australia's notes changed each time a new person was appointed to either of these roles. The dates those appointments became official are well publicized, which gives us a start and finish date within which any Australian paper decimal note was printed.

Use the table below to identify the signatures that are on the front of the note you're looking to identify, this is the first step in working out when it was printed.

Gallery of Decimal Note Signatories

Coombs / Wilson
Coombs / Randall
Phillips / Randall
Phillips / Wheeler
Knight / Wheeler
Knight / Stone
Johnston / Stone
Johnston / Fraser
Phillips / Fraser
Fraser / Higgins
Fraser / Cole
Fraser / Evans

Now You Can See When It Was Printed

The table below has been prepared based on official records of the dates that we mentioned above. Where the exact dates of any production run are known, those dates are included.

Keep one thing in mind when you look at the information below - even though most notes were printed and released across several years (between February 1966 and February 1968 as an example), collectors and dealers only use the first year that a note was printed or released in as part of the description. So a one-dollar note with the signatures Coombs / Wilson on the front will be described as a 1966 $1 note, rather than a 1967 or 1968 one-dollar note.

This is important if you're going to start Googling about the value of your newly identified note - if you want to get the right results you need to use the correct date.

Checking the Value of Your Australian Banknote

Most people want to know the year a banknote was printed in is so they can get an idea of what it is worth.

It’s really important to note that while some Australian polymer banknotes are incredibly rare and valuable, most are not. As at June 2020, there were 1.8 billion banknotes in circulation. Looking for a rare and valuable note is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

If you have a banknote in your possession that you think might be valuable, you can use our ebook titled The Layman's Guide to Coin Values to Australian Coin and Banknote Values as a great place to start.