View lot

Lot 1629      

Estimate $1,750
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $1,900

ORMEROD & CO, Robe Town, South Australia, Ten shillings, currency note, proof on paper, not dated, but numbered 5659, no watermark, vignette of Australian arms with port scene, all within rectangular spiral frame, printed by Ferguson & Mitchell, 41 Collins St, Melb, stating on front 'We Promise to pay the Bearer the sum of Ten Shillings Sterling on demand Value received.' and on back in black ink 'In draft fr. J.W.W. 21:6:90 (Robe Quicken Bay), Ormerod & Co', black on white. Minor paper folds, otherwise extremely fine and extremely rare if not unique as a proof.

Although the ink notation on the back indicates an 1890 use, it also seems possible that these notes formed part of the need for a circulating note in the 1850's and 1860's. The port of Robe Town, in the southern part of South Australia was in the late 1850's an entry point for many Chinese after Victoria introduced a prohibitive entry tax to stem the flow of Asian migrants to the goldfields. In order to avoid the tax, ships from China dropped these migrants at Robe Town, and from there the Chinese began the long trek eastward to the goldfields of Ballarat, Mount Alexander etc. Ormerod and Co., a local firm in Robe produced ten shilling notes which only lasted a year, of which today only a few survive (see next lot). They were rather ironically produced in Melbourne by Ferguson & Mitchell who are known to have produced banknotes in the 1890's. George Omerod was born in 1822 at Rochdale in England and emigrated to Victoria in 1842. He later came to South Australia and in 1846 took up 87 square miles of land at Naracoorte, known as the Naracoorte run. The station was sold in 1848 and George Omerod commenced business at Robe as a Wool Buyer, General Merchant and shipping Agent. He died in 1872 at the age of 50 years.