POCKET GUIDE TO AUSTRALIAN BANKNOTES 3 A Decimal Reformation THE INTRODUCTION OF DECIMAL CURRENCY TO AUSTRALIA

A Public Reassurance

Central to the publicity campaign was the animated character of Dollar Bill, created by Monty Wedd and drawn by animator Laurie Sharpe. Dollar Bill was voiced by the actor Kevin Golsby, who drew inspiration for his voice from the character's stout stature and authoritative demeanour.¹ In the television commercial, Dollar Bill explains the new system of decimal currency to Percy Pound, voiced by fellow-actor Ross Higgins. The commercial concludes in their duet of an infectious jingle, set to the tune of the Australian folksong Click Go the Shears with new lyrics by Ted Roberts. Its rhyming refrain ensured that the date of conversion remained memorable:

When the designs of the decimal currency banknotes were released in 1966, architect and author Robin Boyd considered that it was ‘most unusual to find a Government department in any country of the world going forward with such advanced designs’.² Although the art critic Donald Brook found elements of Andrews' design to be overworked, he commended certain portraits, noting that the ‘greatest success is almost certainly Francis Greenway on the front of the ten, against a background of flattened and patterned architectural fragments. Henry Lawson on the other side looks startlingly three dimensional in his dramatic chiaroscuro …’³

While the new decimal banknotes were received well, the public's trust was tested when counterfeit $10 banknotes began to circulate at the end of 1966. The incident became known as the ‘Times Bakery’ forgery as the building's reproduction was misaligned on the counterfeit banknotes. The forgers were soon apprehended and the Bank began the process of developing more sophisticated technology to prevent future counterfeiting.

References

1. Kevin Golsby, ‘100 seconds with Dollar Bill’, interview by the Reserve Bank of Australia, August 2015, Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, D15/430333.

2. The Age, 11 January 1966.

3. The Canberra Times, 11 January 1966.

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