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Western Australia’s history is unique. Unlike New South Wales and Tasmania the colony at the Swan River was founded exclusively for private settlement. And not as a penal colony. It’s geographical separation from the eastern states fostered local investment, the Western Australian Bank one such provincial venture. The bank was founded in 1841 by purely local businessmen with only one employee: the Directors surmised that one staff member would suffice given the entire population of Perth totaled less than 3000 people. Confining its business interests to Western Australia, it was one of the few banks that did not suspend trade and continued to operate during the financial crisis of 1893. This extremely rare banknote was issued by the Western Australian Bank in 1896, the very same year that the Perth Mint laid its foundation stone and features the black swan, the state’s official emblem. The Western Australian Bank lives on today having amalgamated in 1927 with the Bank of New South Wales, now part of the Westpac Banking Group. A prized piece of Australia’s colonial banking history. And an even prouder piece of Western Australia’s heritage, less than twenty examples from this bank (of all denominations) have appeared over the last thirty-plus years.

More than a century of Australian history is presented in this crisp, colonial banknote. Australia’s private banking sector exploded following the gold rush of the 1850s; one of the new banks formed was the London Bank of Australia Ltd. The bank was established in London in 1852 to exploit the rapidly expanding economies of the Australian colonies with its first Australian branch opening in Sydney and Melbourne in 1853. During the financial crisis of 1893, a run on deposits forced the bank to suspend payments and close its doors. While many other private banks failed, the London Bank of Australia showed its resilience when it re-opened four months later and continued to robustly trade. The history of this colonial bank lives on. The London Bank of Australia Limited was subsequently absorbed by the English, Scottish and Australian Bank Limited in 1921 (ES&A) which in turn amalgamated with the ANZ Bank in 1970.