The new $5 Australian note will not feature King Charles

Brisbane
CNN
–

Australia’s new $5 banknote will not feature Britain’s King Charles III, but rather a new design that honors “the culture and history of early Australians,” Australia’s central bank announced Thursday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said the design would replace the portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the current situationAdding that the decision was taken after consultation with the Australian government.

The bank will consult with The first Australians It added in the design of the $5 banknote, which could take several years to issue.

The first Australians Refers to the country’s indigenous people, or First Nations peoples, made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, descendants of the world’s oldest continuous culture that occupied the continent for more than 65,000 years. Together they make up about 3.2% of the country’s population of 25 million.

Meanwhile, the existing $5 bill will continue to circulate and remain legal tender even after the introduction of the new banknote, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia. Officials also said that the existing coins bore the queen’s image will stay Legal tender “forever”.

King Charles III will continue to appear on the coins, which the Royal Australian Mint is expected to start producing “in the second half of this year,” Andrew Lee, Assistant Secretary for Competition, Charities and Treasury Affairs told ABC Radio in an interview.

Mint has He said It is expected to unveil the design of its first King Charles coinage early this year.

Billions of notes and coins are being exchanged around the world featuring the image of Queen Elizabeth II her death last September.

The Queen’s image is adorned on some banknotes and coins throughout the Commonwealth – a federation of 54 countries, almost all of which were colonized by the United Kingdom.

In Australia, the Queen’s image has been represented on every Australian banknote series since her coronation, over the course of seven decades, according to the RBA.

CNN’s Anna Cuban and Angus Watson contributed to this report.