Australia's central bank is taking "responsibilty" – or rather, responsibility – for a microscopic typo on 46 million bank notes. An Australian radio station posted a photo on social media Thursday showing the 50 Australian dollar bill ($35 USD) with the word "responsibility" missing its last "i" in the three times it appears on the note. The Reserve Bank of Australia confirmed the error on the notes printed in October and said it will be corrected in the next print run. Australia's $50 bill shows Edith Cowan, the first Australian woman elected to parliament. The misspelling occurs in a printed excerpt of her first speech to the Western Australia state Parliament in 1921. "It is a great responsibility to be the only woman here, and I want to emphasise the necessity which exists for other women being here," the correct quote reads. "The process of designing and printing a banknote is complex and iterative," a bank spokesperson said, according to Australian broadcaster ABC. "We have strict quality assurance processes, but like any manufacturing process, errors can occur. We have reviewed our processes to remove the likelihood of such an error occurring in the future." More:Postal Service misidentifies Statue of Liberty in stamp in a $3.5 million mistake According to ABC, the bill also featured new security measures to prevent counterfeiting. Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow USA TODAY's Ryan Miller on Twitter @RyanW_Miller.<doc-sep>It is our duty, our responsibility, to bring you this news: Australia put 46 million new dollar bills into circulation in October and months passed before anyone seemed to have noticed that the currency contained an unfortunate spelling error. The admittedly tiny mistake, on the new $50 note, came to light this week, according to local reports, after someone spotted the typo and anonymously alerted a radio station to the problem: The last “i” in the word “responsibility” was missing. The Reserve Bank of Australia told local publications that it would fix the mistake, but leave the millions of notes bearing the misspelled word in circulation.<doc-sep>Australia printed roughly $2.3 billion worth of paper bills with the word “responsibility” misspelled. The error occurred in October 2018 but went unnoticed until a Wednesday Instagram post pointing out the error went viral. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) printed roughly 46 million “new and improved” $50 bills with the spelling error, The Guardian reported. The bills total approximately 2.3 billion in Australian dollars, which translates to a little over 1.6 billion U.S. dollars. RBA is Australia’s central bank. Its duty is to “contribute to the stability of the currency, full employment, and the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian people,” according to its description. The bank sets the cash rate, issues the country’s banknotes and works to maintain a strong financial system, according to the government. (RELATED: Federal Government Paying Billions To World’s Richest Companies: Report) The bank also manages Australia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, its description says. The RBA first revealed the new $50 design in February 2018 and the bills went into circulation in October 2018, according to a press release announcing the bills. The bills honor the first female member of Australia’s Parliament, Edith Cowan, as well as aboriginal writer and inventor David Unaipon. “David Unaipon and Edith Cowan were campaigners for social change and we are proud to continue featuring them on the $50 banknote,” RBA Gov. Philip Lowe said according to the release. “The new banknote provides the opportunity to tell more of the rich story behind these distinguished Australians.” “It is a great responsibility to be the only woman here,” Cowan said in a 1921 speech, CBS News reported Thursday. “And I want to emphasise the necessity which exists for other women being here,” Cowan added. The words are printed onto the 46 million banknotes with the word “responsibility” spelled incorrectly as “responsibilty.” Wednesday’s post quickly went viral and many Instagram users have suggested the government also misspelled “emphasise.” Australia, however, uses the British spelling of the word, and the spelling is correct. RBA is “aware of it and the spelling will be corrected at the next print run,” a spokesperson told The Guardian. The bills will remain in circulation. Follow Grace on Twitter. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.<doc-sep>In the case of Australia’s new 50-dollar note, released in October, that happened more than six months later. By that point, 46 million notes had been circulated — passed around by Australians who had no idea that what they were really holding in their hands was a note with typos, or as some (half-)jokingly said: a national embarrassment.<doc-sep>
The Reserve Bank of Australia may want to use SpellCheck. An eagle-eyed observer spotted an embarrassing typo — “responsibility” misspelled as “responsibilty” — in about 46 million of the “new and improved” $50 bills. The banknotes, which were rolled out in October amid much fanfare about their anti-counterfeiting measures, feature Edith Cowan, the first female member of an Australian parliament. What looks like a lawn in the background of her portrait is actually rows of text — a quotation from her first speech to parliament. “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” is repeated several times in microscopic print. About 400 million new notes — which also include the image of writer and inventor David Unaipon and excerpts from his book, “Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines” — were printed. Roughly 46 million of them are now in circulation with a total value of around $2.3 billion. The RBA confirmed the typo Thursday and said the error would be corrected in future print runs, according to The Australian. The $50 bill, worth $34.90 in US currency, contains anti-counterfeiting measures including a flying swan and a holographic 50 that reverses when the note is moved. “These banknotes are legal tender and can continue to be used as normal. It does not affect their validity and functionality in any way,” an RBA spokeswoman told CNN about the bills with the typos. “We have reviewed our processes to remove the likelihood of such an error occurring in the future.”