5 Kina 1975, Papua New Guinea
| in Krause book | Number: 2a |
| Years of issue: | 19.04.1975 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Governor: Sir Henry ToRobert (in office from 22.10.1973 to July 30th, 1993), Secretary Department of Finance: Mr. John Vulupindi |
| Serie: | 1975 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1975 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 145 x 72 |
| Printer: | Note Printing Australia, Craigieburn, Melbourne |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Logo of the bank of Papua New Guinea - stylized Raggiana bird-of-paradise.
Avers:
Centered is the emblem of of Papua New Guinea.
The national emblem of Papua New Guinea consists of a Raggiana bird-of-paradise over a traditional spear from Torichelli mountains region and a carved "hour glass" drum Kundu (typical for the Highlands and the yearly Goroka Show). Designed by Hal Holman, an Australian artist working for the Papuan government, Holman was also involved in the design of the National flag. Both the emblem and the flag was accepted by the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea and signed into law as the National Identity Ordinance by the Administrator Sir Leslie Johnson on 24 June 1971. The ordinance came into effect after its publication in the Papua New Guinea Gazette of 1 July 1971. 
The Raggiana bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea raggiana), also known as Count Raggi's bird-of-paradise, is a large bird in the bird-of-paradise family Paradisaeidae.
It is distributed widely in southern and northeastern New Guinea, where its name is kumul. It is also known as cenderawasih. As requested by Count Luigi Maria D'Albertis, the epithet raggiana commemorates the Marquis Francis Raggi of Genoa.
The Raggiana bird-of-paradise is the national bird of Papua New Guinea. In 1971 this species, as Gerrus paradisaea, was made the national emblem and was included on the national flag. "The Kumuls" ("birds-of-paradise" in Tok Pisin) is also the nickname of the country's national rugby league team.
The Raggiana bird-of-paradise is 34 centimeters (13 in.) long. Its overall colour is a maroon-brown, with a greyish-blue bill, yellow iris and greyish-brown feet. The male has a yellow crown, dark emerald-green throat and yellow collar between the throat and its blackish upper breast feathers. It is adorned with a pair of long black tail wires and large flank plumes. The male has the long tail feather while the female does not.. The female is a comparatively drab maroonish-brown bird. The ornamental flank plumes vary from red to orange in color, depending on subspecies. The nominate subspecies, P. r. raggiana, has the deepest red plumes, while the subspecies P. r. augustavictoriae of northeast New Guinea, also known as the Empress of Germany's bird of paradise, has apricot-orange plumes.
Kundu - carved "hour glass" drum (typical for the Highlands and the yearly Goroka Show).
It is carved, wooden, hour-glass shape drum. It has a single vertically attached handle at waist along with 3 carved openwork flanges, also at waist. Incised "spiral-eye" motifs incised on triangular crests which extend above and below the waist area. The waist band area is incised with a panel of fringed eyes and a band of meandering snake and diamond motifs. The drum is capped with dried reptile skin.
The Goroka Show is a well-known tribal gathering and cultural event in Papua New Guinea. It is a Sing-sing held every year close to the country's Independence Day (16 September) in the town of Goroka, the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province. About 100 tribes arrive to show their music, dance and culture. The festival started in the mid-1950s as an initiative of Australian Kiaps. In recent years it has become a major attraction for both national and international tourists and remains the largest cultural event in Papua New Guinea despite similar shows now being organised in Mount Hagen and other cities around the country.
Ceremonial spears of the tribes from Torricelli mountains region (north-west of Papua New Guinea).
The patterns surrounding the numerals are based on designs of a slaughtered pig.
The Background tints, surrounding the National Crest, on the front of the note are comprised of: a section of the design of the parliament building, a tapa fabric from the northern province Ora, shield from the province of Milne Bay (in the southeast of the country).
Tapa cloth (or simply tapa) is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii (where it is called kapa). In French Polynesia it has nearly disappeared, except for some villages in the Marquesas.
The cloth is known by a number of local names although the term tapa is international and understood throughout the islands that use the cloth. The word tapa is from Tahiti and the Cook Islands, where Captain Cook was the first European to collect it and introduce it to the rest of the world. In Tonga, tapa is known as ngatu, and here it is of great social importance to the islanders, often being given as gifts. In Samoa, the same cloth is called siapo, and in Niue it is hiapo. In Hawaiʻi, it is known as kapa. In Rotuma, a Polynesian island in the Fiji group, it is called ‘uha and in other Fiji islands it is called masi. In the Pitcairn islands it was called ahu. It is also known as tapia.
All these words give some clue to the origin. Masi could mean the (bark of the) dye-fig (Ficus tinctoria), endemic to Oceania, and probably the one originally used to make tapa. Somewhere in history, during the voyages of migration the hiapo or siapo was introduced from Southeast Asia, the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera). The bark of this tree is much better to use, and put the use of the dye-fig into oblivion. Only its name remained in Fiji. Tapa finally has the meaning of border or strip. It seems likely that before the glueing process became common to make large sheets (see below) only narrow strips were produced.
Tapa can be decorated by rubbing, stamping, stencilling, smoking (Fiji: "masi Kuvui") or dyeing. The patterns of Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian tapa usually form a grid of squares, each of which contains geometric patterns with repeated motifs such as fish and plants, for example four stylised leaves forming a diagonal cross. Traditional dyes are usually black and rust-brown, although other colours are known.
In former times the cloth was primarily used for clothing, but now cotton and other textiles have replaced it. The major problem with tapa clothing is that the tissue loses its strength when wet and falls apart. However, it was better than grass-skirts, which usually are either heavier and harder or easily blown apart, but on the low coral atolls where the mulberry does not grow, people had no choice. It is also labour-intensive to manufacture. Tapa cloth was made by both the men and women in ancient times. An example is the Hawaiian men, who also made their own weapons.
Nowadays tapa is often worn on formal occasions such as weddings. Another use is as a blanket at night or for room dividers. It is highly prized for its decorative value and is often found hung on walls as decoration. In Tonga a family is considered poor, no matter how much money they have, if they do not have any tapa in stock at home to donate at life events like marriages, funerals and so forth. If the tapa was donated to them by a chief or even the royal family, it is more valuable. It has been used in ceremonial masks in Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands (Mangian masks). It was used to wrap sacred objects, e.g., "God staffs" in the Cook Islands.There are also many more uses of tapa which are not mentioned here.
Sculptors from the Trobriand Islands were prolific carvers, covering the surface of almost every conceivable object with their distinctive abstract and semi-abstract designs. War shields, however, seem to have defied their touch for these designs are painted, not carved. The imagery used on this shield appears to be based upon a view of a man and woman about to begin sexual intercourse. In the Massim region, imagery is built upon images, and the simple and obvious become more profound and obscure when interpreted by a traditionally educated person from this area. Very few of the surviving war shields appear to have been damaged in battle, for there are no arrow holes or slash marks visible. Trobriand war wizards are known to have charmed these shields to protect them from harm. (Saint Louis art museum)
In the very north of Port Moresby, there is the Waigani district, where most government offices are located. Very beautifully the modern Parliament building (1984), which was built in the national style and looks like a typical house for spirits culture.
Denominations in numerals are in top corners. Centered - in words.
Revers:
In the background are used the same patterns as in the obverse.
The background patterns come from:
a section of the design of the parliament building, a tapa fabric from the northern province Ora, shield from the province of Milne Bay (in the southeast of the country).
Featured items: a talipoon masque from the Sepik province, a Moka Mina from the Papua New Guinea western highlands, a New ireland Mis shell currency and terminal.
1) This superb Moka Kina Wealth Plaque is from the Melpa People in the Mount Hagen area of the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.
This beautiful old Shell Pectoral Ornament called Moka Kina , the shell is made from the Gold Lip Pearl Shell or Pinctada Maximums and is covered in red ochre and set into a plaque of hard tree resin and then given a decorated woven band for wearing over chest.
Shells in general were highly valued as traditional wealth by the people in the interior of New Guinea where they had to travel through trading from the coast where they were collected to hundreds of kilometres through some of the most rugged terrain on the planet. These were used as a traditional currency during a traditional ceremony where Moka Kina and pigs were exchanged.
The moka is an exchange system where it is a system of reciprocal exchange in which the donor gives shells and pigs as outright gifts and later is he is obligated to give a larger amount back to the original donor.
The return payment is not made at the same time. Each recipient of shells and or pigs makes a note of the debt he owes so that he can make the appropriate return payment later. The exchange of wealth means friendship, and friendship means alliances. Moka is made between clans, the purpose of which is to cement alliances. Clans will not support clans with which they do not do moka. Therefore moka
is not done indiscriminately. Those doing moka will ensure that the clans they are dealing with will be their allies for
ever. A clan needs a number of other clans it can rely on in times of war for survival. Clan warfare has been and still is endemic throughout the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The moka still has a role to play in the lives of the Melpa as a means of exchanging wealth to maintain social relationships, After receiving the pearl shells in a moka, the owner may do what he likes with them. He does not have to give them away immediately in exchange, but he must at some time in the future repay his debts with the correct number of pearl shells. Therefore he cannot disburse them indiscriminately. He can use them to pay bride wealth, to buy pigs or buy land with. (www.oceanicartsaustralia.com)
2 and 4) This expressive talipoon is from the Yangaru/Boiken culture and represents a bush or ancestral spirit. As a form of ritual currency, it was used in bride price exchanges along with tridacna clam shell rings. It is attached to a polished green turban shell and measures about 16" high. Please see second photo for side view, nice tight weaving on the back, and a close up of the shell. Mid-XX century. (www.zenakruzick.com)
3) Beads - Mis Shell Money, province New Ireland.
The banknote depicts thicker than later shell money.
Used to pay or sponsor a funeral ceremony called Malangaan. Families and clans had to pool their resources to pay for complex ceremonies in Malangaan. Shell money is an important part of traditional payments.
5) Terminal, type of shell money Mis, province of province New Ireland. Made of tortoise shell, glass beads, shells and dog teeth. (www.new-guinea-tribal-arts.com)
Denominations in numerals are in top left and lower right corners.
Comments:
Many thanks to Richard Aldridge from Perth, Australia for exact information on the artifacts on this banknote.
On banknote are signatures of:
Sir Henry ToRobert, KBE, from East New Britain Province, was the First Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea. He served the Bank from October 22nd, 1973 to July 30th, 1993. He was one of the longest serving Governors in the Commonwealth of Nations. He oversaw the growth and development of central banking in the formative years leading up to and after PNG gained independence in 1975.
He has established Bank of Papua New Guinea as a reputable institution in managing the financial affairs of the newly independent nation.
During his term, the country’s currency (Kina and Toea) was introduced in 1975 and a new Bank Building was opened in 1991 and named after him (ToROBERT HAUS). (Bank of Papua New Guinea)
Sir Mekere Morauta, KCMG (born 12 June 1946) is a Papua New Guinean economist and political figure. He was Prime Minister from 1999-2002. Mekere Morauta is also the most important opposition politician when not in office. His opposition against the O’Neill/Abel government was a major factor in the change of government. However this did not result in gaining office in the Marape government. He lost with 8 votes against 101 votes for James Marape in June 2019.
Sir Mekere was born in 1946 in Kukipi, a coastal village east of Kerema in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea. He was educated at local primary schools, at Kerema High and at Sogeri National High. He went on to study at the University of Papua New Guinea, where he obtained a Bachelor of Economics in 1970. He was also an exchange student at Flinders University in South Australia.
After graduating from university he worked as an economist in both the public and private sectors. In 1975 he was the first Papua New Guinean to be appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance, a position which he held until 1982. Other positions he has held include Managing Director of the government's commercial bank, the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation (1983-1992), and Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea (July 1993 – September 1994), PNG's central bank. Morauta was also a successful businessman after he retired from governing the central bank. From 1994 to 1997, he was executive chairman of Morauta Investments, Ltd. (Delta Seafoods and Morauta and Associates). After entering politics he withdrew from actively managing the firm and his wife Lady Roslyn Morauta took over the management of his businesses. Sir Mekere was a member of the so-called "Gang of Four", a group of influential young civil service chiefs who played a leading role in holding together public administration and public policy in the formative decade or so after Papua New Guinea's independence in 1975. The other members of the group were Charles Lepani, Sir Rabbie Namaliu and Sir Anthony Siaguru. Namaliu also later went on to become Prime Minister. Morauta maintained from that period on a strong professional and warm personal relationship with the Australian economist Ross Garnaut.
If you find my work useful I will be grateful for any help in supporting the site.
-
PayPal