The Art of Political Messaging on Banknotes
- By Mark Duff
The Australian Government’s decision not to put King Charles’s portrait on our next Five-Dollar Note signals a shift in how we see ourselves.
One hundred and twenty-five years after Federation, we have finally decided we are no longer an outpost of the British Empire but an independent multi-cultural nation that doesn’t see it as necessary to exhibit a forelock-tugging gesture to our British forebears.
It was a long time coming because his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, to her dying days, graced our Dollar note and then our Five-Dollar Note when the Dollar note was abolished.
Promoting the Monarch of Australia on the smallest denomination note has been a long-standing tradition because it circulated more widely amongst the minions.
Charles will still adorn the obverse of our coinage but I had to take a second look when I encountered my first “Charles” coin because it was almost an unrecognizable caricature when compared to a full-blown portrait of the King of Australia.
* * * * *
Australia dodged an embarrassing bullet back in the 1960s… Click here to access this article and thousands more for less than $2/week.
Already a subscriber? Log in to continue reading.