Reserve Bank of New Zealand $50 banknote

A fifty-dollar denomination banknote, issued by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. This is an example of the Bank's 'Series 7' notes, the first denominations of these, $5 and $10, went into circulation from 12 October 2015. The higher denomination notes, $20, $50 and $100 were issued in 2016.

The eminent person depicted on the note is Sir Āpirana Ngata (1874 – 1950), who played a significant role in the revival of Māori people and culture during the early years of the twentieth century.

He was the first Māori to graduate from a New Zealand university, and an elected Member of Parliament for 38 years.

Ko Ta Āpirana Ngata te taniwha nana i kawe whakamua te iwi Māori, me te ao Māori i nga tau tuatahi o te rau tau rua tekau.

Ko Ta Āpirana te tangata Māori tuatahi kia tohia ki tetahi whare wananga i Aotearoa, a, i potitia ia ki te Whare Paremata me te noho tonu i reira mo te 38 tau.

To the right of the portrait of Sir Āpirana Ngata is a picture of Porourangi Meeting House. This house was first built in 1888, designed by Major Ropata Wahawaha.

The meeting house is significant for the Ngata family. It stands alongside the original Ngata family home and Waiomatatini Marae, near Ruatoria, and is a showcase for Māori art.

I hangaia te wharenui o Porourangi i te tau 1888, he mea hoahoa na Meiha Ropata Wahawaha. He tino whare tenei ki te whānau Ngata.

E tu ngatahi ana tenei whare, te whare o te whānau Ngata me te marae o Waiomatatini, i te takiwa o Ruatoria, a, he tino whakakitenga ataahua mo nga toi Māori.

The tukutuku panel is known as Poutama and means stairway to heaven. It is a feature in the Porourangi meeting house. Ko Poutama te ingoa o tenei tukutuku, ara, ko te pikinga ki nga rangi. He tauira tenei i roto i te wharenui o Porourangi.

On the other side of the note are depictions of a Sky-blue mushroom (Entoloma hochstetteri) which grows throughout New Zealand. It is notable for its bright blue colour, which fades with age.

Also depicted is a North Island Kokako (Callaeas wilsonii) or blue-wattled crow a relatively large songbird with a distinctive bluish-grey body with a black face ‘mask' and sky blue wattles, and a picture of the

Pureora Forest Park, which is located in the central North Island and stretches for 78,000 hectares. This significant remnant of podocarp forest is home to a large population of kokako.

A nation's banknotes not only have value in economic terms as cash, they are also embody in their design and iconograph universally recognised and respected emblems of national identity.

These notes display, as do their predecessors, depictions of eminent national figures, indigenous animals and plants which brand the notes as relating explicitly to New Zealand.