A large pair of reptiles

Papua New Guinea

(Papua New Guinea, just above Australia. Image: Wikipedia).

Ancient inhabitants are believed to have arrived in Papua New Guinea about 50-60,000 years ago from Southeast Asia during an Ice Age period when the sea was lower and distances between islands was shorter. New Guinea (as it used to be known), one of the first landmasses after Africa and Eurasia to be populated by modern humans, had its first migration at about the same time as Australia, placing us alongside one of the oldest continuous cultures on the planet.

Agriculture was independently developed in the New Guinea highlands around 7,000 BC, making it one of the few areas of original plant domestication in the world. A major migration of Austronesia speaking peoples came to our coastal regions roughly 2,500 years ago, along with the introduction of pottery, pigs, and certain fishing techniques.

Although all the climatic regions of Papua New Guinea are basically tropical, they are nevertheless varied. In the lowlands, mean annual maximum temperatures range from about 30 to 32 °C (86 to 90 °F), and the minimums are between 23 and 24 °C (73 and 75 °F).

The northern half of Papua New Guinea came into German hands in 1884 as German New Guinea. With Europe’s growing need for coconut oil, Godeffroy’s of Hamburg, the largest trading firm in the Pacific, began trading for copra in the New Guinea Islands. In 1884, Germany formally took possession of the northeast quarter of the island and put its administration in the hands of a chartered company. In 1899, the German imperial government assumed direct control of the territory, thereafter, known as German New Guinea. In 1914, Australian troops occupied German New Guinea, and it remained under Australian military control until 1921.

The British Government, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia, assumed a mandate from the League of Nations for governing the Territory of New Guinea in 1920. That mandate was administered by the Australian Government until the Japanese invasion in December 1941 brought about its suspension.

On November 6, 1884, a British protectorate was proclaimed over the southern coast of New Guinea (the area called Papua) and its adjacent islands. The protectorate, called British New Guinea, was annexed outright on September 4, 1888. The possession was placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1902. Following the passage of the Papua Act of 1905, British New Guinea became the Territory of Papua, and formal Australian administration began in 1906.

Following the surrender of the Japanese in 1945, civil administration of Papua as well as New Guinea was restored, and under the Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act, 1945-46, Papua and New Guinea were combined in an administrative union to become the country of Papua New Guinea.

Elections in 1972 resulted in the formation of a ministry headed by Chief Minister Michael Somare, who pledged to lead the country to self-government and then to independence. Papua New Guinea became self-governing on 1 December 1973 and achieved independence on 16 September 1975. The country joined the United Nations (UN) on 10 October 1975 by way of Security Council Resolution 375 and General Assembly resolution 3368.

The country comprises the eastern half of the island, with the Indonesian province of Papua taking up the western half.

Obverse

The obverse of the coin features the logo of the Bank of Papua New Guinea, with the name of the country and year around the bottom.

The coin is round with a central hole. It is composed of Copper-nickel (75% Copper, 25% Nickel), 33.72mm in diameter and weighing 14.52g.

The coin is the largest circulating coin in the country, aside from a commemorative 2 Kina issued in 2008 to mark the 35th anniversary of the Bank of Papua New Guinea.

The Bank of Papua New Guinea

Logo of the bank of Papua New Guinea in red. www.bankpng.gov.pg

The Bank of Papua New Guinea is an independent central bank which was first established prior to Papua New Guinea’s independence on 1 November 1973. It’s independence was enshrined in legislation with the introduction of the Central Banking Act 2000. We celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2023.

I can’t find anything definitively describing the bank’s logo

Google AI describes it as “The logo of the Bank of Papua New Guinea features a stylized bird of paradise, the symbol of the nation, over a kundu drum”. That is actually a description of the country’s emblem. Looking at the country’s emblem on this 2 Kina note however, there is a definite resemblance (although you can see the promised drum on the banknote which is clearly not there in the bank’s logo):

(1975 PNG 2 Kina banknote, from Wikipedia).

Reverse

Numista describes the reverse as “River and sea crocodiles flank center hole”. The value, K1 is below and entwined with the tail of the crocodile on the right. The title of the Numista entry for this piece is “Salt Water Crocodiles”.

River crocodiles, sea crocodiles and alligators

The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile in the world, growing up to 6 metres (nearly 20ft) long. Males weigh 200 – 300 kg (440 – 660 lb), and live for around 70 years. They have lived for around 200 million years – since the time of the dinosaurs.

Saltwater crocodiles have a thicker and broader snout, while the freshwater crocs have a longer and thinner snout. The teeth of a saltwater crocodile are varied in size and their jawline is uneven, will the teeth of freshwater crocs are more uniform and the jawline is straighter.

Saltwater crocodiles are considered an aquatic animal, and as such they spend most of their time in the water rather than on dry land. Areas which saltwater crocodiles inhabit (live in) include creeks, waterholes, coastal rivers, wetlands, beaches, oceans, island shorelines, swamps and lagoons.

In Papua New Guinea, one of the main crocodiles found is the New Guinea crocodile (Crocodylus novaeguineae). These are a small to medium-sized freshwater crocodile with maximum verifiable lengths of 3.5 m for males and 3 m for females. They have relatively narrow snouts and are brown to gray in color, with dark brown to black bands on their bodies and tails; banding is more visible on younger animals. differences in the number of belly scales and the arrangement of scales on the nape of the neck. Furthermore, these species tend to prefer different (but overlapping) habitats, with saltwater crocodiles occupying deep freshwater pools and fast-flowing, rocky streams up to 700 miles inland, as well as brackish and coastal areas, and New Guinea crocodiles being found mainly in inland river systems and freshwater swamps and marshes.

While the New Guinea Crocodile was first described in 1928, it was only in 2019 that the Hall’s New Guinea crocodile (Crocodylus halli) was declared a separate species. These are primarily from the South of PNG while Crocodylus novaeguineae are primarily from the North.

(A Hall’s New Guinea Crocodile, from Sci.news).

What about Alligators then? Both Crocodiles and Alligators are from the Crocodylia order. Crocodiles have a V shaped snout with wider upper jaw, allowing it to hide its teeth. Alligators have a U-shaped snout. Alligators tend to be smaller than crocodiles, growing up to a maximum of 4.2 metres (14 feet). Alligators also have webbed feet rather than separated toes like crocodiles. Crocodiles are found in many coastal areas of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Alligators are only natively found in America (American Alligator – from southern USA and northern South America) and China’s Yangtze River Basin (Chinese Alligators).

What is your favourite animal (reptile or other) on a coin? Do share in the comments below.