Fanning Island Bank Notes

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Fanning Island

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1 Pound, 1942

Uniface

Cut in half

This note is not in my collection. Scan courtesy of LKCA World Paper Money

During 1942 when American army task force landed in Fanning Island, they rapidly absorbed the few available supply of Australian currency then in circulation. R. G. Garrett, Manager of Fanning Island Plantations, Ltd., whose signature appears on the note, made arrangements to have one Pound notes printed in Honolulu. The notes were used to pay local labor.

After the currency shortage abated, the notes were collected and cut in half, and then used as movie admission tickets. Intact notes are considerably scarcer than cut pieces.

Back to Australia and Oceania

Fanning Island, called Tabuaeran by the natives, lies over 1000 miles south of Hawaii. It was named after the American captain Edmund Fanning who discovered the uninhibited atoll on June 11, 1798. It was later settled by British laborers who began producing coconut oil for export. The atoll was annexed by Great Britain in 1888. In 1939 the atoll was incorporated into the British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. It gained independence in 1979, becoming part of the Republic of Kiribati. For a more detailed country profile, see CIA World Factbook on Kiribati.

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