Edith Dircksey Cowan was an Australian social reformer who worked for the rights and welfare of women and children. She is best known as the first Australian woman to serve as a member of parliament. Cowan has been featured on the reverse of Australia's fifty-dollar note since 1995.

The Australian fifty-dollar note is an Australian banknote with a face value of fifty Australian dollars (AUD$50). Since 1995 it has been a polymer banknote featuring portraits of Edith Cowan, first female member of an Australian parliament, and inventor and Australia's first published Aboriginal Australian author, David Unaipon.