1 Rupee

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands rupee series was issued under the authority of John Clunies-Ross, whose family had governed the atoll as a private fiefdom since the 1820s. These tokens — not legal tender in any conventional sense — functioned as a controlled internal currency, preventing islanders from accumulating Australian dollars and thereby leaving the estate. The Australian government formally annexed full control in 1978, one year after this piece was struck, and the rupee coinage was abolished shortly thereafter when residents were paid out in Australian currency.