The franc was the currency of the Anglo-French Condominium of the Pacific island group of the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

(which became

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

in 1980). It circulated alongside British and later Australian currency. The New Hebrides franc was nominally divided into 100

Centime Centime (from la, centesimus) is French for "cent", and is used in English as the name of the fraction currency in several Francophone countries (including Switzerland, Algeria, Belgium, Morocco and France). In France, the usage of ''centime' ...

s, although the smallest denomination was the 1 franc. Between 1945 and 1969, it was part of the

CFP franc The CFP franc (French: , called the ''franc'' in everyday use) is the currency used in the French overseas collectivities (, or COM) of French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna. The initials ''CFP'' originally stood for ('Frenc ...

History

Until

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the New Hebrides used the

French franc The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...

and the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

Australian pounds The pound (Sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. As with other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 shillings (denoted by the symbol s ...

. In 1941, the

Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...

forces introduced paper money for circulation on the New Hebrides. In 1945, the

was introduced to insulate France's Pacific colonies from the devaluation of the

and the New Hebrides used a combination of New Caledonian franc coins and locally issued notes. In 1949, the CFP franc's relationship to the French franc stabilized at 5.5 French francs = 1 CFP franc. From 1959, the exchange rate to the Australian pound was almost exactly 200 francs = 1 pound. This rate became 100 francs = 1

Australian dollar The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Isl ...

in 1966 when the dollar was introduced. The Australian dollar circulated alongside the local currency. From 1966, coins were produced in the name of the New Hebrides. In 1969, the New Hebrides franc broke away from the CFP franc and maintained the relationship with the Australian dollar of 100 francs = 1 dollar until 1973. In 1981, the franc was replaced at par by the vatu following independence as

. The Australian dollar continued to circulate in Vanuatu until 1983.

Coins

In 1966, silver 100 franc coins were introduced. These were followed by nickel 10 and 20 francs in 1967, nickel-brass 1, 2 and 5 francs in 1970 and nickel 50 francs in 1972. Only the nickel coins (10, 20, and 50 francs) were the same size, composition, and obverse as the corresponding French Polynesian and New Caledonian coins. The overall design has not changed since the introduction of the New Hebrides franc coins. The only notable change is the addition of "I.E.O.M" (

Institut d'émission d'Outre-Mer An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

) in 1973.

Banknotes

The first New Hebridean banknote was issued in 1921, a 25 franc note of the ''Comptoirs Français des Nouvelles Hébrides'' (French Trading Posts of the New Hebrides) dated 22 août (August) 1921. This is a very rare note. The New Hebrides began issuing banknotes again in 1941. These were overprints on New Caledonian banknotes (issued by the ''Banque de l'Indochine''), in denominations of 5, 20, 100, 500 and 1000 francs. The same denominations were issued in 1943 by the

''Services Nationaux Français des Nouvelles Hébrides''. In 1965, the ''Institut d'Emission d'Outre-Mer'' took over the issuance of paper money on the New Hebrides and introduced notes in denominations of 100, 500 and 1000 francs between 1965 and 1972. Unlike the French Polynesian and New Caledonian counterparts, New Hebrides never had a 5000 franc note.

References

* * *

External links

{{Franc Currencies of the British Empire Currencies of the Commonwealth of Nations Currencies of Oceania Economy of Vanuatu Modern obsolete currencies Economy of New Caledonia

Franc The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

History

Coins

Banknotes

See also

References

External links