On 23rd December Julia Clarke wrote:

Hi! I'm a new subscriber and new to the net so please forgive me if I have
done this the wrong way.
I'm a freelance exhibition curator, writer and historian based in Canberra.
I'm working on an exhibition on female allegory, feminism and national
identity, called 'When Australia was a Woman.' I have not been able to find
much written around this subject. Has anyone out there written/seen
anything that might help? Or does anyone have any ideas they might like to
contribute for discussion? I have never worked on anything quite like this
before, so I would really appreciate an opportunity to bounce some ideas
around. Thanks
Best wishes to all my colleagues out there
Julia Clark

I have replied more fully off-list, but other subscribers might like to note
two books by Virginia Hewitt: 'Beauty and the Banknote: Images of Women on
Paper Money' and (as editor and contributor) 'The Banker's Art: Studies in
Paper Money'.  The latter contains an excellent article by Richard Doty of
the Smithsonian 'Surviving Images, Forgotten Peoples: Native Americans,
Women and African Americans on United States Obsolete Banknotes' as well as
Virginia's 'Soft Images, Hard Currency: The Portrayal of Women on Paper
Money'.  Both works are extremely apposite to the subject.

As a numismatist I also enjoy pointing out that the female personnification
of countries largely starts with Roman coins.

                        Robert Heslip