$50 AUD Polymer note

The new $50 banknote was released into general circulation on 18 October 2018.

A range of innovative new security features have been incorporated in the new $50 banknote to help keep it secure from counterfeiting. These security features are similar to those in the $5 and $10 banknotes issued in 2016 and 2017.

The new $50 banknote retains the portraits of David Unaipon and Edith Cowan, which are drawn from the same source photographs represented on the first polymer $50 banknote.

Each denomination in the new series of banknotes will feature a different species of Australian wattle and a native bird within a number of the security features. The $50 banknote features the Acacia humifusa and the Black Swan (Cygnus atratus).

The banknote celebrates David Unaipon, an inventor and Australia's first published Aboriginal author, and Edith Cowan, the first female member of an Australian parliament. Their work is recognised in several design elements on the banknote, including shields from Unaipon's Ngarrindjeri nation and images portraying the practices of miwi and navel cord exchange about which Unaipon wrote. The banknote also includes pictures of the gumnut brooch Cowan had made to symbolise that entry into Parliament was a ‘tough nut to crack’ for women, and the King Edward Memorial Hospital, a women’s and maternity hospital that she helped establish.

The microprint features excerpts of Unaipon's book Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines and Edith Cowan's maiden speech to Western Australian Parliament.

Edith Cowan became the first Australian woman to enter parliament when she was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia in 1921.

David Unaipon played a vital role with the mission church Raukkan Church at Point McLeay as an organist and inspirational lay preacher.