Front: Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-2008), New Zealand mountaineer and explorer

Hillary was most famous for being the first to successfully ascent Mount Everest. He reached the 29,035-foot (8850 m) summit on May 29, 1953 at 11:30 a.m. local time. Sir Edmund is the only living New Zealander to appear on a banknote.

Back: Campbell Island scene showing the yellowed eyed penguin (hoiho), the sub-Antarctic lily, bull kelp and a daisy

Front: Kate Sheppard (1848 - 1934), women's right activist

She was the most prominent leader of the campaign for universal suffrage in New Zealand, a cause for which she worked tirelessly to organize and promote. A long campaign, supported after much lobbying by some leading politicians of the day, culminated in 1893 when New Zealand became the first state in the world to extend voting rights to women.

Back: Rare Blue Duck or Whio, an endangered species found in fast-flowing river habitats

It prefers the headwaters in the mountain ranges of the North and South Islands.

Front: Sir Apirina Ngata (1874-1950), activist

Sir Apirana played a significant role in the revival of the Maori people and their culture during the early years of the twentieth century. An accomplished leader of the Young Maori Party, he provided a focus for the broader social movement that drew Maori culture from the doldrums into which it had fallen during the late 1800's. To the left of Sir Apirana is a meetinghouse which he designed.

Back: Blue Wattled Crow (kokako), Pureora Forest, supplejack and sky-blue mushroom

Front: Ernest, Lord Rutherford of Nelson (1871-1937), New Zealand's greatest scientist

He changed the basic approach of the scientific world to the atom. He determined its structure and explained the perplexing problem of naturally occurring radioactivity. Ruthford was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908.

Back: yellowhead (mohua), red beech, Eglinton Valley, and the South Island lichen moth