TikTok video reveals ‘secret code’ hidden on Australian money

A viral TikTok video has revealed the secret codes hidden in Aussie money – and what they really mean.

Bank notes are a staple millions of us use every day – but many don’t realise they hide a fascinating secret.

Over the weekend, Australian TikTok account The History of Money released a viral video explaining the meaning behind serial numbers found on our cash.

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The clip revealed that most Australian notes contained a serial number on the edge which many of us have probably failed to notice.

The first two letters of that sequence – such as AA or DF – indicate the sheet it was printed on while the next two numbers prove the year it was made.

So, for example, the first sheet of new $10 notes created in 2017 would have the code AA17 printed on it, while the second sheet would have AB17 and so on.

The video also explained that the serial numbers on a $5 note printed in 2018 would range from AA18 to EJ18, while the number on a $20 from 2010 could be anything from AA10 to DA10 and the code on a $10 note from 2015 would range from AA15 to DF15.

It’s not just a theory – the Reserve Bank of Australia has confirmed the information behind those codes on its own website.

“Since 1993, Australian banknotes have been numbered using a ‘Year-Dated System’. Under this system, each banknote on a given sheet has a different letter prefix (e. AA or AB),” the RBA states.

“The first two numbers of the prefix, which indicate the year the banknote was produced, are the same for all banknotes printed in the same year. All banknotes on a sheet will have the same suffix, which decreases by one from one sheet to the next.

“While the first polymer series has a six-digit suffix, the new series of banknotes has a seven-digit suffix to accommodate the possibility of larger print runs.”

The RBA website also contains other fun facts about our notes that most of us probably never realised.

For example, the median life of Aussie bank notes is around two to three years for $5 notes and 10 years for $50 notes.

All Aussie notes are printed by Note Printing Australia Limited in Craigieburn, Victoria.

“Australian banknotes start out as plastic pellets, which are melted and blown into a three-storey bubble,” the website explains.

“The walls of the bubble are pressed together and cooled to form laminated polymer film. “Special inks are applied to make the film opaque, except for certain areas which are left free of ink to create the clear windows, before it is cut into sheets.”

Different sized sheets are used for each denomination and the number of banknotes printed on a sheet varies.