1/2 Pa'anga 'Reine Salote'

Tonga did not establish a central bank until 1989. Through the late colonial and early post-independence period, the government itself issued currency directly — an arrangement that was unusual but not unique in the Pacific. This note predates the National Reserve Bank by more than two decades, and the series it belongs to was introduced just two years after formal independence in 1970, though the issue date range begins in 1967 under British protection.

Queen Sālote Tupou III, who died in December 1965, is commemorated here. She had reigned since 1918 and remains better known internationally for her appearance at the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II than for the administrative modernisation she quietly oversaw at home.