British sovereigns will disappear from banknotes in Australia, where the portrait of Elizabeth II on the new five-dollar bills will be replaced with a design honoring indigenous culture rather than the likeness of Charles III, the country’s central bank announced on known Thursday.
The five dollar note is the only one currently bearing the effigy of a British monarch in Australia.
The Reserve Bank of Australia said Aborigines would be consulted on a new design that “honored the culture and history of early Australians”.
Designing and printing the new banknote will take “a few years,” she said. Banknotes already in circulation bearing the portrait of the late Queen will remain legal tender.
The death of Queen Elizabeth on September 8 was marked by a day of national mourning in Australia, a Commonwealth member country whose official head of state is King Charles III, represented by a governor-general. However, some indigenous groups denounced the destructive consequences of British colonization and called for the abolition of the monarchy.
The central bank said its decision was backed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor government, which supports a possible move towards an Australian republic.
The disappearance of the sovereign’s effigy was welcomed by the Australian Republican Movement (ARM), which pointed out that the Indigenous peoples lived 65,000 years before British colonization.
“Australia believes in meritocracy and the idea that someone can be in our currency by birthright is incompatible, as is the idea that they can be our head of state by birth,” said Craig Foster, WARC President.
“To think that an unelected king should stand in our imprint in the place of First Nations chiefs and elders and prominent Australians is no longer justifiable in the hour of truth, reconciliation and ultimately peace, formal, cultural and intellectual independence “, he added.