The Official Currencies and Coinages of Oceania

[Galapagos]

Maps of Oceania

NOTE: Although the Galapagos Islands are not officially part of Oceania, I have
included them in order to cover all the major island territories of the Pacific.


The Official Currencies and Coinages of Oceania

The polities of Oceania fall into four categories:

1] Those that use their own national currency.

2] Those that use only: the US dollar, OR the Australian dollar, OR the New Zealand dollar, OR the Chilean Peso, and officially nothing else.

3] Those that use the Australian or New Zealand dollar AND ALSO their own currency.

4] Those that belong to a currency union, where the currency is pegged to the euro.


NOTE: The euro is not used as an official currency anywhere in Oceania.

[Galapagos]

The Related Currencies of Australasia

1] Australia uses the Australian dollar

2] New Zealand uses the New Zealand dollar

3] Papua New Guinea uses the Kina.  One Kina = 100 Toea.


NOTE: Although Australasia is not part of Oceania, the Australian
and New Zealand dollars are used by several polities in Oceania.
The Kina is used only in Papua New Guinea.

[Galapagos]

Polities using the Australian dollar exclusively

1] Nauru.  This is an independent state.

2] Norfolk Island.  This is an overseas territory of Australia.


The following use the Australian dollar, as well as their own currency, pegged at a rate of one to one to the Australian dollar:

1] Kiribati. This is an independent state.

2] Tuvalu. This is an independent state.

NOTE: Both Kiribati and Tuvalu have stopped issuing their own circulation coins,
but they are still legal tender and still circulate in small numbers. Kiribati and
Tuvalu have never issued their own banknotes.


The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are a Territory of Australia. They use the Australian dollar, but they have at times issued official tokens for use on the Islands.

[Galapagos]

Polities using the New Zealand dollar exclusively

1] Niue.  This is a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand.

2] The Pitcairn Islands.  These are a British dependency.

3] Tokelau. This is a New Zealand territory.


The following uses the New Zealand dollar, as well as its own currency, pegged at a rate of one to one to the NZ dollar:

1] The Cook Islands.  This is a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand.

The Cook Islands stopped issuing their own circulation coins and banknotes
from 1995 to 2014, but they were and are still legal tender and still circulate in small numbers.

The Cook Islands issued a set of "circulation" coins dated 2010. Although
they were legal tender, they were meant for collectors only and do not circulate.

The Cook Islands issued a new circulating coinage on 4 August 2015.

 

[Galapagos]

Polities where the US dollar is the only official currency

1] Guam. This is an overseas territory of the USA.

2] The Northern Mariana Islands. These are an overseas territory of the USA.

3] The Marshall Islands. These are self-governing, in free association with the USA.

4] The Federated States of Micronesia.  These are self-governing, in free association with the USA.

5] Palau.  Palau is self-governing, in free association with the USA.

6] Hawaii.  Hawaii is a state of the U.S.A.

7] The Galapagos Islands.  These are a province of Ecuador, whose official currency is the U.S. dollar.
 

NOTE: All overseas territories of the U.S. use the U.S. dollar.


Polities using the Chilean Peso

1] Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, uses the Chilean peso.  Easter Island is a special territory of Chile. 


Polities using the Pacific Franc

1] French Polynesia.  Their coins carry French Polynesian reverse designs.

2] New Caledonia.     Their coins carry New Caledonian reverse designs.

3] Wallis and Futuna.  Their coins carry New Caledonian reverse designs.


NOTE: The Pacific Franc is a currency union for those overseas territories of France
that did not want to join the euro. All coins bear the initials I.E.O.M., for "Institut
d'émission d'Outre-Mer " - Institute of Overseas Issues. Just as the euro zone countries
use different national designs on their coins, so do French Polynesia and New Caledonia.

The Pacific Franc is pegged to the euro at a rate of €1 =  CFPF 119.2529826

[Galapagos]

Nations that officially use their own currency only

1] Fiji.  One dollar = 100 cents.

2] Samoa (formerly Western Samoa).  One tala = 100 sene.

3] The Solomon Islands.  One dollar = 100 cents.

4] Tonga.  One pa’anga = 100 seniti.

5] Vanuatu uses the Vatu.

[Galapagos]

Polities without their own specific currency that have produced collector coins or banknotes

1] Nauru.  This is an independent state.

2] The Chatham Islands.  These are a territory of New Zealand.

3] Tokelau. This is a New Zealand territory.

4] Niue.  This is a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand.

5] The Marshall Islands. These are self-governing, in free association with the USA.

6] The Federated States of Micronesia.  These are self-governing, in free association with the USA.

7] Palau.  Palau is self-governing, in free association with the USA.

8] American Samoa.  This is a territory of the USA but has produced NCLT coins in its own name.

9] The Pitcairn Islands.  These are a British dependency.

10] Easter Island (Rapa Nui).  This is a special territory of Chile.

11] The Galapagos Islands.  These are a province of Ecuador.


NOTES

Most of those listed above have so far produced only collector coins or pseudo-coins, but no "banknotes."
The Chatham Islands (a territory of New Zealand) have however produced "banknotes" that are not legal tender.

Both Niue and the Pitcairn Islands have issued their own circulation sets in recent years. Although they
are legal tender, they are meant for collectors only and do not circulate.

Private companies have issued fantasies in the name of both Easter Island and
the Galapagos Islands. However, these fantasies are not official and have no legal status.
They are commercial products aimed at collectors of such items.

To learn more about fantasy coin issues, click on the link below:

Pseudo Sets, Pseudo Countries?


 Comments

To post comments about this thread, click on the link below:

Comments on the Official Currencies and Coinages of Oceania

[andyg]

Thought some images would be interesting?
Rather than stick by country I've done these by denomination.
Just 1 Cents at present but more will follow if so required.
These are all the British territories, French Polynesia and New Caledonia don't really fit.

In order from left to right,
Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Isles, Tonga, Tuvalu.

The Tonga cent is odd, being in Brass, the only year this happened was 1974 all other years were in Bronze. 

An interesting list would be a list of when these 1 cent coins were demonetized in their respective homelands....

[andyg]

Back on topic, here's my two cents worth,

These quite interesting, until I sorted them out I'd never noticed that New Zealand 2 Cents are a slightly different size to those issued by Australia.
So the scan has two lines,
Line 1 is Australian based, from left to right,
Australia, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Isles, Tuvalu

Line 2 is New Zealand based, again from left to right,
Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga

[andyg]

Here's the 5 Cents,
These 'one size fits all'

From left to right,
Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Is, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu.
Especially for Ice Torch I've included a nicer Samoan coin this time.

[andyg]

Next the 10 Cents,

Top, From left to right, Australia, Cook islands, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand
Bottom, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu

My Papua New Guinea coins are letting me down again 

[andyg]

Here are the 20 Cents,

Top, from left to right, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand
Bottom, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu.

That's all for now folks....

[andyg]

50 Cents - part 1

These different sizes, so I've included the dates of issue.

Top, from left to right, Australia (1966), Cook Islands (1972-1994), Kiribati (1979), New Zealand (1967-2005)
Bottom, Australia (1969-____), Fiji (1975-2008), Tonga (1974-____)

[andyg]

50 Cents (Part 2)

From left to right, Papua New Guinea (1980-____), Samoa (1967-____), Solomon Islands (1988-____),
Tonga (1967-1974), Tuvalu (1976-1994)

[andyg]

These 1$, I think we can safely say these are all different sizes....

Top, from left to right, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand
Bottom, Papua New Guinea (Reduced size issue), Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu