50 Vatu

Vanuatu's coinage predates the nation itself by a few years — the vatu was introduced in 1981, two years after independence from the joint British-French Condominium of the New Hebrides, deliberately severing the territory's dependence on both the Australian dollar and the CFP franc. The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu was established specifically to manage this transition, and the 50 vatu was among the founding denominations of the new monetary system.

The series ran largely unchanged for over two decades, a reflection of the country's political stability relative to many post-independence Pacific nations.