Another wonderful example of an early bank cheque from this year of the banking system in early Tasmania.
Dated in August 1893 this cheque bears the counter stamp from the Commercial Bank of Tasmania in Ulverstone.
It is embossed in the upper right hand with the one penny stamp duty impression.
Drawn against an account at the National Bank in Stanley to the favour Mr R. Phillips for Fifteen Pounds and Ten Shillings
The cheques edges on the right hand side have been exposed, probably in a ledger and have some minor deterioration but overall the paper quality remains sound
This was the year that signalled the collapse of Federal Bank and started the banking crisis of 1893.
Born on the 13 January in this year was Roy Cazaly who died a sporting legend 70 years later. This man became a great name behind Australian Rules Football. Up there Cazaly!
With more than 120 years on the clock  its a magic piece of Australian history.
Design
A cheque (or check in American English) is a document that orders a payment of money from a bank account. The person writing the cheque, the drawer, usually has a current account (most English speaking countries) or chequing/checking account (US; also, occasionally, Canada) where their money was previously deposited. The drawer writes the various details including the monetary amount, date, and a payee on the cheque, and signs it, ordering their bank, known as the drawee, to pay that person or company the amount of money stated.
Cheques are a type of bill of exchange and were developed as a way to make payments without the need to carry large amounts of money. While paper money evolved from promissory notes, another form of negotiable instrument, similar to cheques in that they were originally a written order to pay the given amount to whoever had it in their possession (the “bearer”).
Technically, a cheque is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified transactional account held in the drawer’s name with that institution. Both the drawer and payee may be natural persons or legal entities. Specifically, cheques are order instruments, and are not in general payable simply to the bearer (as bearer instruments are) but must be paid to the payee. In some countries, such as the US, the payee may endorse the cheque, allowing them to specify a third party to whom it should be paid.
Although forms of cheques have been in use since ancient times and at least since the 9th century, it was during the 20th century that cheques became a highly popular non-cash method for making payments and the usage of cheques peaked. By the second half of the 20th century, as cheque processing became automated, billions of cheques were issued annually; these volumes peaked in or around the early 1990s. Since then cheque usage has fallen, being partly replaced by electronic payment systems. In an increasing number of countries cheques have either become a marginal payment system or have been completely phased out.
*All biographical details are taken from Wikipedia for education purposes only.
History
In the year of this cheques issue we saw:
30 January – The Federal Bank collapses, starting the Australian banking crisis of 1893.
4 February – 1893 Brisbane flood devastates Queensland.
14 June – Gold discovered at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia by Paddy Hannan and two others.
Queensland is granted its Coat of Arms
Coolgardie and Esperance are both declared as towns
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria spends time hunting kangaroos and emus in Australia
.*All historical info taken from Wikipedia for educational purposes only
