The Sterling Currency in the South Atlantic and the Antarctic

The United Kingdom possesses a number of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean as well as a section of the Antarctic continent. These territories are St. Helena, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and the British Antarctic Territory. St. Helena in turn has two dependencies: Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha. The official currency in these territories is either sterling or a local currency that evolved from sterling and is at a fixed one-to-one parity with sterling.
Until 1929-1930, when the Australian pound and New Zealand pound ceased to be at parity with sterling, sterling was the currency of much of the Antarctic continent, including the Australian Antarctic Territory and the Ross Dependency.
St. Helena and Ascension Island
St. Helena used sterling currency as in the United Kingdom until 1976 when it began to issue its own banknotes at par with the pound sterling. In 1984, this colony also began to issue its own coinage, similar to the coinage of the United Kingdom but with different designs on the reverse. See the Saint Helena pound. The St. Helena currency also circulates on St. Helena's dependency of Ascension Island, but not on St. Helena's other dependency of Tristan da Cunha, where UK currency circulates.
The Falkland Islands
Until 1971, United Kingdom currency was used, but since decimalization the Falkland Islands have used their own distinctive coinage similar to that of the UK. See the Falkland pound for more information.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands have no permanent resident population. Government officials there use UK currency.
British Antarctic Territory
Although nominally British, the British Antarctic Territory is subject to international agreements which limit British authority there and allow other countries to maintain scientific research bases there. The official currency is the Pound sterling. Legal notices have appeared in the London Gazette in relation to the currency of the British Antarctic Territory, for example when the farthing, halfpenny, and half crown were demonetised in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The dates for demonetisation did not correspond to the equivalent dates in the United Kingdom, and were often about a year behind.

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