The first bank note issued by the Commonwealth of Australia, printed 100 years ago, has gone on sale with a price tag of A$3.5 million (£2.3 million).

The ten shilling note was presented by Andrew Fisher, prime minister at the time, to Judith Denman, the five-year-old daughter of the Governor General Lord Thomas Denman.

The serial number was hand written by little Judith who then moved to England but kept the note in pristine condition in an envelope.

Note and coin dealer Paul Hannaford of International Auction Galleries was involved in selling the note in 2008 and said it set a new record then for any item of numismatics, or money.

"She sold for a record price 1.909 million dollars (AUD) which was a record price not only for any Australian numismatic item anywhere in the world but also anything physically sold in Australia," Hannaford said.

Coinworks say the note represents an important time in Australian history, the foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.

Fisher and his Labour government wanted post-colonial Australia to have a stronger sense of national identity and introduced a government-owned bank with its own notes, Commonwealth postage, and built a new capital in Canberra.

Presented by Adam Justice