Secrets of the Australian Dollar 

A special thank you to Michael from Illinois for the US $2 bill in the video, to Mihai from London / Romania for the Romanian Lei, and to Courtney from Seattle for the Vietnamese Dong! Video schedule is now back to normal (Tuesdays & Saturdays)

I remember the first time I held a US dollar bill, I was so afraid it would tear in my hands. It felt so frail & like thin tissue. Our Australian notes feel so solid & durable in comparison.

America is planning to upgrade to new Australian-inspired colourful polymer banknotes. It’s scheduled to happen right after they convert to the metric system.

As an Australian I sometimes take these notes for granted. They’re honestly so beautiful and detailed plus extremely well made. I’m proud to be from the country that makes these.

America: We have the most advance anti-counterfeiting currency in the world Australia: 'grabs another beer' Yeah righto mate

The $50 is the most counterfeited of the Australian banknotes, hence skipping the $20. :)

Never thought 14 year old Daniel Radcliffe would teach me about the banknotes of the counrtry I live in

As an Aussie reading these comments and everyone talking about how good they look, I be thinking about how good they smell

I’m Aboriginal and I’m sopround to have my people on a Aussie notes. Indigenous people from all over the world need this type of recognise tbh ! ✨🙌🏽

The best thing about plastic notes is they will go through a washing machine undamaged.

Honestly, I wouldn't even be mad if we changed the name from dollar to dollarydoo.

I really like how I can look inside my purse and know exactly how much money I have in cash simply by looking at the colour of my notes. When I travel I miss that privilege.

The reason they skipped the $20 is that the $50 note is circulated in by far the largest number, and is also the most commonly counterfeited and therefore the most in need of an update. The $5 and $10 were used as a kind of practice/test run, so they could start the brand new production technique off slowly, then they went straight to the $50 as it is more important to replace than the $20.

As an Australian eating at a Denny’s restaurant in LA I once left two one dollar bills as a tip. As I was paying the waitress came up to me and thanked me for the tip.Thats never happened to me before. I got back to my hotel room and realised I was short two $100 bills. US money all looks the same ....sadly. It was a $13 meal by the way !!

They skipped over the 20 because the 50 is the note with the largest counterfeit problem. They tested the technology with the 5 an 10 to ensure the ani counterfeit measures worked before releasing the 50.

Proud to be calling this amazing country home❤️ From an Afghan-Aussie ❤️

This video was definitely aimed at trying to make us Australian's feel special lol.

As an Australian, I have to say we have some kickarse banknotes. But unfortunately I barely use them these days. Everythings pretty much eftpos.

Actually as a kid I was always confused when watching American tv as all the money looked the same, I'm proud to be an Aussie and to know that we posses such beauty in our land and in our pockets.

With the way the markets are moving, I think a video on "How to profit from the present market amidst the recession" will be appreciated. I mean, I have heard of people still making more than a 100K within a few months, and I'd like to know if it is still possible in these times.

Gilmore - "No foe shall gather our harvest" Emu - "Hold my beer"

What people don't realize is that there is a huge deficiency in the Australian bank notes. I don't have enough of them.

Disappointed you didn't mention the CSIRO (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) that specifically invented polymer bank notes. They also invented wifi and loads of other things.

The kid who designed the new Australian notes came from my school, he was partially sighted

Man Aussies have everything to be proud of even bank notes

i'm aussie and i loved the old $10 note because behind banjo Paterson's head in micro print is one of his poems man from snowy river

I honestly didn't know about the 1988 polymer note. I've never seen, nor heard of it before. Thanks for teaching me something.

Fun Fact: The dollar bills are different sizes so the blind can identify which note is which

You’re welcome. -Every Australian Watching this Video.

Oddly enough, little things like these make me feel proud to be an Australian

Dear: My money (I'm Australian) Thank you for being so durable, even when I accidentally scrunch you up or put you in the washing machine, you stay nice, I appreciate it

I never knew that we inspired the whole see-through banknotes thing. That's so cool!

You forgot to mention that the new notes also have their denomination written repetitively like a thousand times in microscopic print. Good luck trying to counterfeit that!!

This makes me appreciate the notes I have in my wallet! Australian here btw.

If you look at the $10 note next to the mans neck you’ll see the song 'waltzing Matilda' which was written by that man. You’ll need a magnifying glass tho.

0:29 is it just me or did I just see Queen Elizabeth blinked?

Now I feel special that I live in Australia.

Its currently 3:10am here in Australia. I absolutely love your videos mate, keep it up!

Australia printed typo 46 million times on $50 bills, central bank admits.

Being an Australian, this made me feel very patriotic.

I like these bank note videos, I think some of the bank notes are very interesting and pretty!

Great video, from an Aussie. Personally, I'd love it if the re-issue of the $100 looked exactly like your suggestion.

Another fun fact. Australian government science organisation the CSIRO experimented using the same polymer process and printers to print solar cells. I recall the got to about 13% efficient at low production costs but were pushing for higher efficiency to make it competitive and viable. The goal was cheap, light weight, quick to deploy panels, that were also 100% recyclable.

That original polymer $10 note was first tested in my home town of Newcastle. My employer, the Newcastle Herald, covered the story and I got to hold one of the test notes. I remarked at the time how beautiful it was in comparison to the existing paper notes.

You could do a video 5x as long on Australian coins as well; I've been collecting Australian coins throughout the years (especially when I worked retail/hospitality), and have about 60 different coins, all legal tender (Aus has that many due to a commemorative theme, especially on the 50c coin. Year of the volunteer, Year of women, Princess Di's wedding, etc). Also managed to score a 1926 shilling and a few other pre 1966 coins. The best score I got was when someone used a British pound as a $1 coin; at the time the AUD was worth about 40p, so that was a pretty nice lol. A customer once used one of those 1988 $10 notes (0:57) to pay for something, which have been out of circulation for years. That's never leaving the collection!

**...looks at my stale grubby American dollars...**

Another fact about the Aussie polymer notes. If you place them (it works for all denominations of notes) flat on a table, and curl the left edge and the right edge up to touch each other, the very, very fine lines and colours marry up perfectly, and the same happens if you roll the top edge over and the bottom edge to meet in the middle, the very fine lines and colours all match perfectly. The design is brilliant.

the aussie twenty dollar note also has fine print on Mary Reibeys hair that reads “twenty dollar note”

The Australian dollar... IS A COIN

I love your informative videos! Especially the ones about money.

One thing that not many are aware of is that New Zealand currency is made at the Australian mint in Canberra. This is why the coins are very similar in size to each other and why they weren't too far behind Australia when they changed to plastic.

Good! If I see any more “20 Questions Americans have for Australians” pages asking the “Why are your bank notes colourful? It’s money, not a fashion show!” crap, or incredulously asking why our notes are plastic (as if having notes not made of paper is absurd), I’ll just link them this video. Saves my breath.

The original first $10 polymer note was taken out of circulation. You apparently could scratch that hologram window off like a scratchie gambling card. 🤣🤣 I have one still though.

I love this series. As an Australian-Indian it’s so well made!!!!

Yesss omg loving our new notes. Cant wait for the next ones! Working as a cashier, i see soooo many different coins and notes

American here. I would love to see more colorful and durable dollars in our future.

Not perfect until they put Steve Irwin on the $100 note

Nice video. In case it hasn't been mentioned in the comments, some new $20's have slipped into circulation as of April 2019. I had one last week and had I known about this channel I would have sent you one, (it was used to buy lunch).

This is such a great video! Very informative and beautifully done. So proud to be an Aussie!

I remember when my English friend came to America for a trip she looked at the banknotes and went on about how colourful they were! God, I love Australian money. My banknotes are stronger than my self-esteem.

Evrything in this video I never new about before I learned something new thanks chris

I live in the U.S. but have an Australian $5 bill. Thought the plastic was cool ever since I was a kid

*Beautiful banknotes.* The durability makes the Aussie Dolla more sustainable. Singapore also got the same technology, which they source from Australia.

This video weirdly made me proud to be a Australian, I never paid much attention to our currency but this video made me realise its beauty. Thank you

i always learn so much from your videos! as an australian this makes me very happy

They also survive going through the washing machine and dryer if accidentally left in your pocket.☺️

An informative, well made and overall outstanding video. Thank you for putting the effort into such great content! You have certainly earned a new subscriber.

A lot of the smaller Pacific island nations have their banknotes printed here in Australia too, so they use the same polymer technology and security features. The plastic banknotes are particularly useful for them; the humid tropical climate meant paper or cotton banknotes did not last very long...

insane production quality. Amazing video HBO should let you do a show.

You know, I always wondered If you could actually use the map of the parliment house on the back of the 5$ note.

I love the transparent window, amazing design, such beatiful notes!

When the new $5 banknote came out in like 2016. One kid had it and I remember how the whole class grouped around him while he showed us the note.

Best video yet! This is my favorite seri es. (Is this a series?)

The company that makes our Aussie notes also makes them for a few of the pacific nations.

Fascinating! Thanks for this

Very good voiceover and stop motion, also congrats on 100K subs!! 🥳 Keep it up dude

Your banknote vids are sooo Interesting and their also very pretty!😁❤️

I'm Australian and handle these notes all the time, and I haven't even noticed heaps of details you mentioned.

I love your channel, mate. Music you are using is just beautifull and your art animation is just so perfect and really nice. Keep up ! (y)

Another nice up, Chris. Cheers.

I was waiting on your Aussie currency special!

We need a total redesign of the US bank notes.

One thing you missed mentioning - on the $10 note (at least, on the old version) there's the ENTIRE Banjo Paterson poem "The Man from Snowy River" in microprint...

This is fantastic and I will be using it the classroom and sharing it with my colleagues!

I live in Australia (born 1996) and it wasn’t until I saw my first foreign currency in person when I realised that not all money is plastic. And it wasn’t until a couple of years ago when I realised that their money wasn’t waterproof???! I’ve had notes go through the wash and gone swimming with notes in my pocket and never even thought about it. Plus I didn’t realised you could tear a note either. I don’t know how people cope with such fragile money??!

One thing you forgot about what we no longer have 1 & 2 dollar bills anymore.

Wow, I use these notes almost every day and still never realised or noticed any of these incredibly detailed features!

I live in Australia and these notes are the best thing to ever happen in currency. Not only are they safe but you can get them wet and have no issues at all no need for a wallet for example if you go to the beach. They are awesome!

76 down votes from counterfeiters.

What a refreshing video

GREAT video! So much learned about the notes I have never really looked at. Thanks for your detail and research.

The original 1988 $10 polymer notes had a problem whereby the Capt. Cook hologram could be rubbed off (it’s true, I tried it myself). They were withdrawn and later reissued with the fault corrected. The ones that were recalled were recycled into items like compost bins. I remember taking delivery of a load of these and being told that in terms of how many $10 notes that had been shredded and melted down, these bins were “worth” hundreds of thousands each 😆

I love bank notes

all we need now is a 150 bank note with steve irwin on it.

Perfect video, thanks Chris! Very useful for our Homeschool study on Aussie bank notes.

The new bank notes really are very cool. I love the holographic sparkly parts. I had no idea that we were the first to introduce the plastic bank notes but they really are the best. I admit that I didn't notice that we didn't have new $20 notes though.

"What a beauty! " :)

I hate to ask but.. When will the next Great British Adventure come out?

What an awesome video!

Our new Aussie notes are beautiful. Works of art really!