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The first British settlers founded Port Jackson, now part of Sydney, in 1788. The British colonies in Australia (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania) were united as the Commonwealth of Australia on January 1, 1901, and the Statute of Westminister gave Australia full sovereignty on December 11, 1931.

During the eighteenth century, Australia relied on imported Portuguese, Indian, Spanish, Dutch and British coins. In 1800, Australia officially imported pennies from Britain, but the continued shortage of coins led the government to cut out a round hold from Spanish silver dollars, counterstamping them, and making the centerpiece equivalent to 15 pence and the “holey dollar” equivalent to 5 shillings in 1813. The holey dollars were legal tender until 1829 when large importations of coins from Britain began. Nevertheless, coins remained in short supply, and hundreds of local private tokens were minted through the 1860s. Gold was discovered in Australia in 1851 and in 1855 a mint was set up in Sydney to convert the gold into gold sovereigns until 1931.

Australia adopted the British Pound Sterling (GBP) in the eighteenth century, allowing local banks and provinces to issue Pound denominated notes. The Australian Pound (AUP) was officially introduced on September 4, 1909 at par with the British Pound Sterling, and divisible 20 Shillings and 240 Pence. Australia left the Gold Standard on December 17, 1929.

On February 14, 1966, Australia replaced the Australian Pound with the Australian Dollar (AUD) at the rate of 1 Australia Pound equals 2 Australian Dollars. The Dollar is divisible into 100 cents. Banknotes were issued by individual banks until 1910, by the Commonwealth Treasury from 1910 until December 1920, by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia from 1920 until January 14, 1960 and by the Reserve Bank of Australia since then.

Several territories and countries currently use Australian Dollars for currency. These include the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Australian Antarctic Territory, the Norfolk Islands, Christmas Islands, the Heard and McDonald Islands, Keeling Cocos Islands, the Republic of Nauru, the Territory of Coral Sea Islands, Tuvalu and Kiribati.

Here is a 1 Pound undated note issed in 1941. The note is deep blue on multicolored udnerprint. The obverse features the portrait of King George VI to the right, and the denomination and obligation in the center. The reverse depicts a stone relief of a herd of sheep being tendered to by shepherds. The note carries a watermark of Captain Cook.

• Krause# Pick-26b
• Signature: H. T. Armitage and S. G. McFarlane

This 5 Pound undated note was issued in 1941. The note is deep blue on multicolored underprint. The obverse features the portrait of King George VI to the left, coat of arms to the right, and denomination and obligation in the center. The reverse depicts dock workers loading sacks, baled hay and barrels to the left, and denomination in a stylized panel to the right. This note has a watermark depicting Captain Cook.

• Krause# Pick-27b
• Signature: H. T. Armitage and S. G. McFarlane

Here is a 2 Dollar note dated 1988 from the 1988 World Expo in Brisbane, Australia. The note was legal tender only in the Expo grounds, and was valid from April 30th to October 30th, 1988.

• Krause# Pick-None

This is a 5 Dollar note dated 1988 from the 1988 World Expo in Brisbane, Australia. The note was legal tender only in the Expo grounds, and was valid from April 30th to October 30th, 1988.

• Krause# Pick-None

• Krause# Pick-