Earlier this month, Philip Lowe, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, announced the country’s latest banknote—a $10 denomination featuring the portraits of Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson and Dame Mary Gilmore—will enter circulation on Sept. 20.
According to Australia’s central bank, the new note will feature the same “world-leading security benefits” as the $5 note issued last year. In addition to several security features in the transparent window, the forthcoming $10 note will also include a reversing number 10, which will change direction within the homestead. Along each of the long edges the note also includes two raised bumps. Printed in fluorescent ink, a cockatoo and wattle branch are visible under ultraviolet light.
On one side bearing the portrait of Paterson, an iconic Australian bush poet, journalist and author, and on the other side featuring Gilmore, a prolific Australian writer and journalist, the note is predominately blue and measures 65 mm by 137 mm. The portrait of Paterson is based on a photograph taken when he returned from the Boer War in 1900. The portrait of Gilmore is based on a photograph of the poet taken when she was in her early twenties.