The new Aussie $50 note appears to have a typo. Photo / news.com.au
The new Aussie $50 note appears to have a typo. Photo / news.com.au
You had one responsibility.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) was left scrambling for answers on Thursday morning after radio station Triple M posted a photo on Twitter sent in by an eagle-eyed listener.
The photo shows the RBA's new $50 note under a magnifying glass and reveals an embarrassing typo in the reverse text, which features excerpts from Edith Cowan's maiden speech to Western Australian Parliament.
News.com.au has confirmed the typo is indeed real.
In the phrase "it is a great responsibility to be the only woman here", the word "responsibility" is misspelt as "responsibilty" — three times.
The word 'responsibility' is misspelt three times. Photo / news.com.au
The new $50, which entered circulation last October, is similar to the old $50 with portraits of Aboriginal author David Unaipon and Cowan, the first female member of Australian parliament.
It features new security features and tactile elements to aid the vision-impaired.
"This latest and important upgrade not only marks a hugely significant step towards equal access to society for people who are blind or have low vision, but also incorporates new, innovative security features that further protect against counterfeiting," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said at the time.
"The application of the tactile features to the $50 note is particularly important given that it's the most widely circulated banknote, with 46 per cent of all banknotes in circulation being the $50 note."
He added, "I believe, the implementation of the tactile features would have made David Unaipon and Edith Cowan proud."
The full excerpt from Cowan's speech, which repeats, reads, "I stand here today in the unique position of being the first woman in an Australian parliament. It is a great responsibility to be the only woman here and I want to emphasise the necessity which exists for other women being here. If men and women can work for the state side by side and represent all different sections of the community, I cannot doubt that we should do very much better work in the community than was ever done before."
An RBA spokesman said, "The Reserve Bank of Australia is aware of it and the spelling will be corrected at the next print run."
Rare currency dealer Jim Noble from Noble Numismatics said this was the first time in its history the RBA had pushed a typo through to circulation.
"They do misprint notes but they're individual happenings rather than the whole production," Noble said.
He said the proof would have gone through multiple approvals.
"Obviously someone would have to have looked at that enlarged and looked at the finished product before going to printing," he said.
"How could that be approved? I'd say that's a very serious and embarrassing error for everybody responsible. The buck stops with those who are producing it. It's a joke for Australia, isn't it?"
