Coin Curiosity

Australian Next Generation $20 note

Following on from the New Note Series $20 note introduced in 1994, the Reserve Bank of Australia introduced the Next Generation $20 note on October 9th, 2019 (Reserve Bank of Australia, https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2020/mr-20-21.html). New notes were available from commercial bank branches on the day of launch. While the New Note Series $20 note was released following the New Note Series $10 note, the Next Generation $20 was was released following the Next Generation $50 note.

During production of the 2019-dated Next Generation $20 notes, Peter Gaetjens replaced John Fraser as the Secretary to the Treasury, who had resigned in 2018. As a result, the 2019-dated Next Generation $20 notes bear the signatures of both men. It is unclear why note printing skipped numbers 0189259 - 0200004 during the transition.

As with the New Note Series $20 notes, the Next Generation $20 notes depict Mary Reiby on the obverse and Reverend John Flynn on the reverse. The serial number prefixes are as per the New Note Series as well, with the second prefix letter running from A to M and the digits being the last two digits of the year the note was printed. The signatures are of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Secretary to the Treasury.

Prefixes and serial numbers are provided by the Reserve Bank of Australia.