One Shilling banknote. Issued by the Camp Seven Bank, Hay Internment Camp, Australia. With signatures of bank “managers,” A.A Mendel and R. Stahl.

(HOLOCAUST).

1st March

Hay, Australia

1941

Scarce internal currency issued by the ‘Dunera Boys,’ mostly all German and Austrian Jewish internees, deported from England to the isolated internment center located in Hay, south western New South Wales, Australia, where they were held until the end of World War II. As Australian money was forbidden in the Hay Internment Camp, the ingenious internees designed their own currency to help facilitate day-to-day life. Notes in the denominations of sixpence, one shilling and two shillings were produced from artwork prepared by Georg Telscher. His cunning designs incorporated a number of hidden messages within the notes: In the barbed wire around the edge can be read the song lyrics: “We are Here Because we are Here Because we are Here.” In the barbed wire at the foot of the fencing can be read: “HMT (His Majesty’s Troop-Ship) Dunera, Liverpool to Hay.” Woven into the fleece of the sheep on the back of the note are the names of some of the internees. It has also been suggested that the barbed wire behind the Coat of Arms hides a message in Morse code. The notes remained in circulation for just three months before Commonwealth authorities were alerted that Australia’s currency laws were being contravened. Very few of these Hay banknotes are extant.