Description and research notes
Printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. in London for the short-lived Federal Bank of Australia, this £1 specimen belongs to one of the rarest chapters of Australia’s pre-Federation banking history. The Federal Bank opened in 1881 and failed during the banking crisis of 1893, leaving only presentation and archival notes behind.
This specimen is especially valuable for its period annotations, including a pencilled “9 May 82,” linking it directly to the bank’s first year of operation. Such markings indicate use as an in-house reference or presentation example rather than a circulation note. The design is visually balanced: at left, a young woman with a lamb representing prosperity and trust; at right, a classical allegory of authority and stability. The deep blue underprint and wide margins reflect Bradbury, Wilkinson’s early export engraving style.
Graded PMG 64 Choice Uncirculated (Annotated, Top Pop), this piece is the highest-recorded survivor of the type. It stands as a tangible record of Australia’s fragile private-bank era and of the artistry that defined the first generation of British-engraved notes for the colonies.