Catalog
20 Marks Australian occupation, treasury note
| Issuer | Treasury, Rabaul (Australian occupation of German New Guinea) |
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| Year | 1914-1915 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress print in black on plain paper. The note is typeset in a simple utilitarian layout, with the denomination numeral '20' appearing in rectangular boxes at upper left and upper right, flanking the title 'TREASURY NOTE' across the top. The central inscription 'TWENTY MARKS' is set in large bold type, below which a handwritten promissory text records the date '14th day of October 1914' and the place of issue, Rabaul. A red manuscript cancellation is applied diagonally across the face, and two manuscript signatures appear at the foot alongside a handwritten entry notation at lower left. |
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| Reverse description | Reverse printed on plain paper with a faint overall pattern of overlapping scalloped or arc-form guilloche elements visible across the entire surface, providing a subtle security underprint with no additional text or vignette. |
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| Comments |
When Australian naval forces seized German New Guinea in September 1914, they inherited a functioning colonial economy with no suitable currency to run it. The Rabaul treasury notes — printed locally under occupation administration rather than shipped from Australia — were an improvised fix, produced with whatever materials and equipment were at hand in the captured town. The series is among the very few instances of an occupying power issuing emergency currency from the occupied territory's own printing infrastructure.
Three denominations were produced. All are genuinely rare; the 20 Mark value more so than the lower figures.