Not just a pretty face

Written by Cherelle Jackson
Sunday, 26 August 2007
When the United States introduced the various coin issues featuring the faces (profiles) of their deceased Presidents on one side and the Statue of Liberty on the other side, it immediately became popular, it was after all another strong step towards patriotism. At around 1960s, the United Kingdom were also making monumental steps towards the same act of patriotism, by introducing Series C of their banknotes depicting Queen Elizabeth II. Her face is portrayed in full view facing left and as a watermark, hidden, facing right. The custom in the UK of depicting historical figures on the reverse side of the note began in 1970. Previous banknotes have depicted Sir Isaac Newton, the Duke of Wellington, Florence Nightingale, William Shakespeare, Sir Christopher Wren, George Stephenson, Charles Dickens and Michael Faraday. In the United States on four of their notes, George Washington is featured on the $1, Thomas Jefferson on the $2, Abraham Lincoln on the $5 and Benjamin Franklin on the $100 note. The notes are intricately designed to accurately portray the historically significant faces. The variety of designs and faces no doubt gives the US Dollar a touch above the rest. The Samoan tala however has a long way to go in the acknowledgement of our own historical figures. Whereas the UK pound has displayed every historically famous character of UK descent from literary mastermind William Shakespeare to pioneer of modern nursing Florence Nightingale, we have but only acknowledged one important Samoan on our notes and coins. Since the introduction of the Samoan tala banknotes and coins, the only profile or face featured was that of the late Malietoa Tanumafili II, honouring his leadership as the Head of State of Samoa. You see, before that the German Marks (DEP) were used in Samoa while we were under German rule. Later on British and US coins were used both here and American Samoa. The New Zealand Pound (NZP) was introduced when New Zealand introduced its own currency in 1933. After independence however we issued our own Pound (WSP) at par with the New Zealand Pound. The tala officially replaced the pound at par on July 10, 1967. Banknotes were issued by the New Zealand Government until 1959, then by the Bank of Western Samoa (BWS) from 1960 until 1980, then the Monetary Board of Western Samoa from 1980 until 1985, and finally up until now, by the Central Bank of Samoa. So the story of our journey to legal tender independence differs greatly to that of our own political independence as a nation, unfortunately for us, we never paralleled the two. Leaders of the Mau movement who died and were exiled so we may become independent were never given that due honour on our notes and coins despite their obvious contribution to where we are today. Being that the tala is unique to us and our representation not only to the financial world but as our mark in history the design itself does not reflect other notable Samoan figure. Indeed there are many noteworthy Samoans who have passed on and deserve due acknowledgement on our coins and notes. While the UK and the US splash the portraits of their notable figures in history, we have somehow remained numb on the issue. Our legal tender should not after all just portray a pretty (notable) face, but one that reflects the cultural, political and social history of Samoa, it should portray characters who have in a way shaped the current face of the current Samoa. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Sunday, 26 August 2007 )

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