PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
THE BAROON DOLLAR: NEW LOCAL CURRENCY IN QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA Philip Mernick of London forwarded this information about a new local currency in Queensland, Australia - the Baroon Dollar. -Editor  The Baroon Dollar is a community or complementary currency launching in August 2009, which will be redeemable for goods or services within the Blackall Range and Sunshine Coast Hinterland region of Queensland, Australia. It is an initiative of Sustainable Maleny and the Australian Institute for Community Currencies Inc - a non-profit community organisation.Baroon Dollars are gift certificates or payment vouchers. You will be able to buy the Baroon Dollar from this site or distribution centres across the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. When you buy a Baroon Dollar you’ll be buying a gift certificate from the Australian Institute for Community Currencies Inc which is redeemable for goods and services across the Hinterland. Baroon Dollars are not a replacement for the Australian dollar, but a complementary tool to support the local economy and to raise awareness of the need to buy locally. Darren Mitchell of the organization promoting the dollars emailed Philip and several other collectors (see below). Maybe I'm just one of those people who'd never want to join an organization that would have me as a member, but when something is marketed at collectors I instinctively turn up my nose - it smells like profiteering and promotion rather than a genuine community-based effort. Still, the Baroon Dollar is another example of the local currency movement that deserves to be documented and preserved. -Editor Darren Mitchell writes: We are a non-for-profit community group in Australia, the Australian Institute for Community Currencies Inc and are preparing to launch Australia's first paper dollar-backed local currency in the Sunshine Coast hinterland region. Named the Baroon Dollar, we will be producing collectors edition sets, with the possibility of a commemorative token in August/September 2009. Within the next month collectors of complementary currencies and tokens will be able to pre-order at our website www.baroondollar.org The designs of the notes are being kept under wraps. From the Baroon Dollar blog: A great selection of prominent local artists have offered to supply artwork to be the face of the Baroon Dollar - the hinterland's new comunity currency. Steve Demmasson of Sahitya Graphics based in Maleny is currently working on designing the 1,2,5,10 and 20 Baroon Dollar notes ready for a launch in August. Philip recommended this article about the currency - here's an excerpt. The old dairy farming town of Maleny in Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland, perched lushly on the Blackall Ranges, now attracts tree changers, hippies, artists and weekend tourists. In 2004 Maleny locals made headlines for trying to stop the construction of a Woolworths on the banks of the town's Obi Obi Creek, which was a platypus habitat. After long stand-offs, they lost that battle and the supermarket was built. But this time they have taken on a bigger opponent and have decided to hit back at the global financial crisis. They are going to print their own money. The Baroon Dollar - named after Lake Baroon near Maleny - will be printed and sold at local, independent businesses to encourage locals and visitors to keep buying up locally. To read the complete article, see: Money worries: town prints its own (www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/10/2594106.htm) For more information, see: The Baroon Dollar (http://www.baroondollar.org/) Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
|