Throughout its history, the Federal Government has produced banknotes that for one reason or another have never been issued.
In 1916 it prepared a 5/- note to counter the shortage of silver coin, but destroyed most of them in 1922. Four specimen notes survived and were sold by a descendant of a signatory, C. J Cerutty.
A £1,000 note was ordered in 1922 languished until 1928, when the Government decided not to proceed. There is one note known in private hands — it last sold in 2008 for AU$890,000.
Only two sheets and 12 individual notes remain of 7,000,000 new George V “panel” £1 notes commissioned in 1926 and then destroyed because the printing was unsatisfactory.
1934 designs for new £50 and £100 notes depicting George V were never even printed, because of insufficient demand, and the £1 note featuring Edward VIII remained unissued because of the abdication (Edward as Prince of Wales however did feature as the watermark on all denominations produced up until 1940).
New designs for £50 and £100 notes produced in 1939 to augment earlier issues were destroyed in 1958, except for a few specimens, and no examples in private hands are known.
The 1950s brought designs for new 10/-, £10, £20, £50, and £100 notes. A specimen of the £50 note, featuring Henry Parkes, sold in 2010 for AU$750,000.