Time Period: 1880-

  • around 1887
  • 1st issuance of tokens denominated in "Rupee" made of sheepskin. The wages of the plantation workers were paid with them, and they could only be used in the shops of the Clunies-Ross family. Moreover, the tokens were numbered so that their use could be monitored.
  • around 1892
  • 2nd issuance of tokens denominated in "Rupee" made of sheepskin
  • around 1902
  • 3rd issuance of tokens denominated in "Rupee" made of cardboard
  • around 1913
  • 4th issuance of tokens denominated in "Rupee" made of beige plastic ("ivory") to celebrate the accession to the throne by John Sidney Clunies-Ross as "king" Ross IV in 1910. Their nominal rating was 7 Cocos Rupees = 6 Straits Dollars (or 1 Cocos Rupee = 1 Ceylonese Rupee), but the tokens could not be used anywhere outside the Clunies-Ross plantation.
  • 16.06.1955
  • Australian law ["Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act", No. 34] on the passage of the islands from Singapore colony to Australia, currency is not explicitly mentioned; effective 23.11.1955
  • around 1968
  • 5th issuance of tokens denominated in "Rupee" made of blue-green ("Cent" denominations) and red plastic ("Rupee" denominations), possibly used in internal accounting but most probably intended for collectors. They were nominally on par with the Singapore Dollar.
  • around 1977
  • 6th issuance of tokens denominated in "Rupees" made of base metal as well as silver and gold on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the settlement by John Clunies-Ross. They were solely intended for collectors and did not have any nominal parity.
  • around 2004
  • Start of issuance of fantasy coins in Australian currency for collectors. The coinage was supposedly "authorised" by the Cocos Islands Shire Council, which had no authority to do so.