10 Australes

Tucumán's 1987 austral emergency notes were issued under the provincial "bonos" system that proliferated across Argentina as the national government struggled to meet public salary obligations during a severe fiscal crisis. Provinces essentially issued quasi-currency to pay employees and contractors, knowing these instruments would circulate locally by necessity rather than by law.

The austral itself had only been introduced nationally in 1985 as part of the Alfonsín government's Austral Plan — a stabilization attempt that was already unraveling by the time Tucumán printed these notes. Provincial issues like this one complicate the numismatic record considerably, as print runs and surviving quantities were rarely documented.