50 Pounds

Australia's first federally issued banknotes replaced the notes of private trading banks following the Australian Notes Act of 1910, which gave the Commonwealth exclusive right of issue. The £50 denomination was the highest in the inaugural series — a face value so large relative to average wages that these notes functioned almost entirely in interbank and commercial settlement, rarely if ever passing through ordinary hands.

The Collins & Allen signature combination is known only in cancelled form, suggesting that pairing never reached general circulation. The multiple Cerutty & Collins serial varieties — prefix Y with serifs, suffix Y, and bold prefix Y without serifs — indicate incremental plate or typographical changes during a single signature period, the kind of production detail that makes census tracking genuinely difficult.