The Bug Bill
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- The Bug Bill
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: ESZTER BALAZS
- Published: March 1, 2018
Overview
- Fiji redesigned its banknotes and coins in 2012 to highlight endemic plants and animals and to promote their preservation, protection, and promotion.
- The redesign marked a major symbolic change: after 78 years, the currency of the Commonwealth member country ceased to display images of the British royal family.
Species and design choices featured on currency
- $100 banknote: shiny-backed, yellowish tree bugs (nanai), a native of Viti Levu; nanai make an appearance in Fiji only once every eight years.
- $5 banknote: kulawai (red-throated lorikeet), the smallest member of the parrot family in Fiji; recorded on only four of the country’s 332 islands; last seen in 1993 and suspected to be likely extinct.
- $10 banknote: beli (Lever’s goby), a freshwater fish found in fast-running streams in the highlands of Fiji.
- $20 banknote: kacau ni Gau (Fiji petrel) that nests on a single island, Gau; experts believe no more than 50 pairs survive today.
- Coins: series featuring a rabbitfish, a flying fox, a parrot, a humphead wrasse, an iguana, and a peregrine falcon.
- Plant: tagimoucia, Fiji’s best-known flower, which flourishes only on a single island and “refuses to grow” elsewhere in Fiji according to Susan Kumar.
Design process and contributors
- The choice of flora and fauna was made by a team of experts including biologists, historians of the National Museum of Fiji, and members from a cross section of the community, under the guidance of the former governor of the Reserve Bank, Barry Whiteside.
- Susan Kumar, chief manager of the Currency and Corporate Services Group at the Reserve Bank of Fiji, worked on the new banknote series from conception to its launch in 2012.
- Some designs were drawn from preserved specimens by Luis Morris, a former senior banknote designer at De La Rue in the United Kingdom.
Public reception and recognition
- The public response was positive: the banknotes are described as “colorful and vibrant,” and relatable as representations of the country’s natural history.
- The Fijian flora and fauna banknote collection won the Regional Banknote of the Year Award in 2013 for visual artistry, technical sophistication, and accurate reflection of the country’s cultural heritage.
Source: The Bug Bill, F&D Magazine, March 2018.
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