Millions of Australia’s shiny new $50 notes have been printed with a misspelling of the word “responsibility”, it has emerged.
The country’s Reserve Bank has confirmed that $2.3bn worth of currency, on 46 million notes issued last October, contains the typo.
In small text just behind the image of Edith Cowan, Australia’s first female member of parliament, and is an excerpt of her maiden speech to Western Australia’s parliament.
It reads: “It is a great responsibilty [sic] to be the only woman here, and I want to emphasise the necessity which exists for other women being here.”
The goof first became known on Thursday when a listener on radio outlet Triple M sent the station a magnified photo of the note, Reuters reports.
The A$50 currency is the most widely circulated in Australia and accounts for nearly half the total value of other banknotes in use, according to the RBA.
The note came into circulation with new security features designed to deter counterfeiting and with tactile elements for the visually impaired. It sports a head-shot of Edith Cowan, who served as the first woman elected to an Australian legislature from 1921 to 1924.
An RBA spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to Reuters the Bank “is aware of it and the spelling will be corrected at the next print run.”
The Bank said in its latest annual report its note printing subsidiary delivered 227 million Australian banknotes in 2017/18, including around 184 million new series A$50 banknotes.
The RBA did not immediately respond to questions on exactly how many of the new notes where in circulation and whether they would be withdrawn as a result of the spelling error.