10 Shillings 1954, Australia
| in Krause book | Number: 29 |
| Years of issue: | 1954 - 1960 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Governor, Commonwealth bank of Australia: Mr. H. C. Coombs, Secretary to the Treasury: Mr.Roland Wilson |
| Serie: | 1953 - 1954 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1954 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 137.16 x 76.20 |
| Printer: | Note printing works at Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, Melbourne (1924 - 1981) |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Captain James Cook, The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, The Royal Navy (7 November 1728 - 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. 
Behind each signature is an inscription - HALF.
Avers:
The engraving is made, probably, from this portrait of Matthew Flinders. The author is unknown.
This portrait was published in an article on Matthew Flinders in the journal "Naval Chronicle" of 1814, the engraving was made on the basis of miniatures at the possession of Mrs.Flinders.
The original records in the logbook of HMS "Investigator" by Flinders, you can see here State library New South Wales.
Captain Matthew Flinders RN (16 March 1774 - 19 July 1814) was a distinguished English navigator and cartographer, who was the first to circumnavigate Australia and identify it as a continent.
He made three voyages to the southern ocean (August 1791 - August 1793, February 1795 - August 1800 and July 1801 - October 1810). In the second voyage, George Bass and Flinders confirmed that Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was an island. In the third voyage, Flinders circumnavigated the mainland of what was to be called Australia.
Born on 16th March 1774 at Donington, Lincolnshire, England and died on 19th July 1814 in London.
He entered the navy in 1789. From 1791 to 1793 he served as midshipman under William Bligh {1754-1813) on a voyage to Tahiti. In 1794 he saw action in H.M.S. Bellerophon at the naval battle of the "Glorious First of June". The next year he sailed for Port Jackson aboard H.M.S. Reliance in which George Bass (1771-1803) was surgeon. After their arrival in Sydney they explored Botany Bay and George's River in a boat of 2.5 metre keel called the "Tom Thumb". From 7th October 1798 to 12th January 1799 Flinder's commanded the "Norfolk" on an expedition in which he circumnavigated Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) and thus proved it to be an island. In March 1800 he returned to England and in 1801 published his 'Observations on the Coasts of Van Diemen's Land, on Bass's Strait and its Islands and on part of the Coast of New South Wales'.
Flinders was promoted commander and appointed as captain of H.M.S. Investigator. In April 1801 he married Ann Chappell of Lincolnshire and on 18th July he sailed for Australia, his request for Ann to accompany him was refused by the Admiralty. Robert Brown and his assistants were part of the scientific expedition on this voyage to explore the southern coast of Australia. Flinders reached the western part of "the Unknown Coast" (W.A. and S.A.) on 28th January 1802 and made a landing in Fowler Bay. In February he entered the mouth of Spencer Gulf and on 22nd March Kangaroo Island was discovered. On 8th April 1802 the corvette Le Geographe was sighted and Flinders exchanged information amicably with the Captain, Nicholas Baudin (1754-1803). He arrived in Sydney on 9th May 1802, having completed the task given to him by the Admiralty in England.
Flinders wasted no time and on 22nd July he sailed north along the eastern coast of New South Wales and Queensland. He made a detailed survey of the Queensland coast up to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He explored Keppel Bay and Capricorn Coast between 9th August and 20th October 1802, landing at Curtis Island, Port Clinton, Shoalwater Bay and Percy Islands. Soon after passing through Torres Strait, the Investigator was found to be not only leaking badly but also the timbers were rotten. He eventually circumnavigated Australia arriving at Port Jackson on 9th June 1803.
Flinders was anxious to return to England and left Port Jackson in August 1803 as a passenger aboard H.M.S. "Porpoise". However, on 17th August 1803 the "Porpoise" struck a reef and was lost. Ninety-four survivors were cast on a small island while Flinders sailed back to Sydney aboard the ship's cutter and arranged their rescue.
Flinders sailed to England in the schooner "Cumberland" but the little ship leaked so badly that Flinders decided to stop at Mauritius, then known as Ile de France. He arrived there on 17th December 1803, the day after Le Geographe had left for France. He was arrested because of the war between Great Britain and France. His health suffered considerably despite being allowed some parole. The French governor continued to hold him contrary to receiving orders from Paris in 1807 to release him. Finally, in June 1810 with the British fleet blockading the island he was exchanged.
Flinders returned to England on 23rd October 1810 and was received with honours and promotion to post-captain. He completed the text of "A Voyage to Terra Australis", but died before the first copy of the book arrived on 18th July 1814. In his popular book Flinders was the first to use the name "Australia" consistently, and as a result the name was gradually adopted. He was an intellectual who was enlightening and very capable. He expressed spontaneous gratitude to the people of Mauritius who befriended him and was very considerate of his botanist aboard the "Investigator" stopping as often as he could "in order that the naturalists may have time to range about and collect the produce of the earth".
Flinders' name is commemorated by Flinders Bay, Flinders Chase, Flinders Ranges and Flinders Group of five islands in northern Queensland. The botanists have honoured him with the genus Flindersia and family Flindersiaceae. (An Australian government initiative)
On the right and left sides of banknote are Pittosporum undulatum flowers.
Pittosporum undulatum is a tree growing to 15 m. tall with wavy (undulating) leaf edges. It is sometimes also known known as sweet pittosporum, native daphne, Australian cheesewood, Victorian box or mock orange. It carries conspicuous orange woody fruits about 1 cm. in diameter for several months after flowering in spring or early summer.
Originally Pittosporum undulatum grew in moist areas on the Australian east coast but has increased its range since European settlement. It is a fast grower, and has become a weed in other parts of Australia where it is not indigenous. It is also highly invasive in South Africa, the Caribbean, Hawaii, the Azores and southern Brazil.
P. undulatum's status around the Sydney area is contentious. Even though it is native to the region, P. undulatum has spread to soils and bushland where it wasn't found before European settlement, often out-competing other plants. It has done especially well in areas where the environment has been altered by humans - for example by habitat fragmentation weakening other natives, by fertilizer runoff from homes increasing soil nutrients and by the suppression of bushfires near suburbs. Unlike most natives, P. undulatum takes advantage of high nutrient levels and its seeds can germinate without needing fire. This has led to the species sometimes receiving the "invasive" label although some think that it is merely returning to areas where it grew before people arrived in Australia and began burning the environment far beyond that which previously occurred.
In lower left corner is Australian coat of arms.
The coat of arms of Australia (formally known as Commonwealth Coat of Arms) is the official symbol of Australia. The initial coat of arms was granted by King Edward VII on 7 May 1908, and the current version was granted by King George V on 19 September 1912, although the 1908 version continued to be used in some contexts.
In the top half of the shield, from left to right, the states represented are: New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. In the bottom half, from left to right: South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania. Above the shield is the seven-pointed Commonwealth Star or Star of Federation above a blue and gold wreath, forming the crest. Six of the points on the star represent the original six states, while the seventh point represents the combined territories and any future states of Australia. In its entirety the shield represents the federation of Australia.
The Red Kangaroo and Emu that support the shield are the unofficial animal emblems of the nation. They owe this recognition to the fact that they are native Australian fauna (found only on that continent), and likely chosen because they are the most well-known native Australian animals large enough to be positioned together in scale holding up the shield. It is often claimed these animals were chosen because neither animal can move backward, only forward - i.e. progress. In reality both animals can move backwards, but infrequently do. In the background is wreath of Golden Wattle, the official national floral emblem, though the representation of the species is not botanically accurate.At the bottom of the coat of arms is a scroll that contains the name of the nation. Neither the wreath of wattle nor the scroll are technically part of the official design described on the Royal Warrant that grants the armorial design.
The coat of arms surrounded by Hakea leaves. Hakea is a genus of 149 species of shrubs and small trees in the Proteaceae, native to Australia. They are found throughout the country, with the highest species diversity being found in the south west of Western Australia. Hakeas are named after Baron Christian Ludwig von Hake, the XVIII century German patron of botany, following Heinrich Schrader's description of Hakea teretifolia in 1797.
Denominations in numerals are in all corners and repeatedly centered. In words are in center and in lower part of banknote.
Revers:
Parliament House, known formerly as the Provisional Parliament House, was the house of the Parliament of Australia from 1927 to 1988. The building began operation on 9 May 1927 as a temporary base for the Commonwealth Parliament after its relocation from Melbourne to the new capital, Canberra, until a more permanent building could be constructed. In 1988, the Commonwealth Parliament transferred to the new Parliament House on Capital Hill. It also serves as a venue for temporary exhibitions, lectures and concerts.
Designed by John Smith Murdoch and a team of assistants from the Department of Works and Railways, the building was intended to be neither temporary nor permanent-only to be a "provisional" building that would serve as a parliament for fifty years. The design extended from the building to include its gardens, décor and furnishings. The building is in the Simplified or "Stripped" Classical Style, commonly used for Australian government buildings constructed in Canberra during the 1920s and 1930s. It does not include such classical architectural elements as columns, entablatures or pediments, but does have the orderliness and symmetry associated with neoclassical architecture.
The 1938 edition of "Canberra A City of Flowers", The Official Tourist Guide to Australia’s National Capital, describes Parliament House in glowing terms:
"Spacious ministerial and party rooms, smoke rooms, club rooms, reading rooms, committee rooms, dining and billiard rooms, press rooms and officials’ rooms, members’ bar, lounges and housekeeper’ quarters are no less impressive than the immense kitchen, boasting every culinary equipment, and second to none in Australia.
Special suites, containing offices, dressing rooms, fitted with wall beds, lounges and bathrooms, are provided for the President of the Senate and the Speaker. The Prime Minister’s handsome suite adjoins the Cabinet room.
The Members main dining room seats 150, while there are several smaller refreshment rooms and lounges. At the rear of the House, the kitchen is surrounded by pantries and stores, and the offices of the Chief Steward. Elaborate electrical cooking and cleansing apparatus is installed, and speedy electric conveyors whisk the food to the dining rooms." (Parliament House)
Denominations in numerals are in all corners and in lower part of banknote. In words are in center and also in lower part of banknote.
Comments:
In my collection I have found a silver commemorative coin 1 Florin 1927, dedicated to the opening of parliament building in Canberra.
Governor of Reserve Bank of Australia Mr.H. C. Coombs was in the office from
January 1949 till 1968.
Secretary to the Treasury Mr.Roland Wilson from April 1951 till October 1966.
Designed by the Note Printing Branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (which was Australia's note-issuing authority in 1953), with assistance from the artist Napier Waller and the sculptor Leslie Bowles.
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