Item Code: 145/UG-1
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Year
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1957
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Obverse
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Nyero
Rock Paintings in Nyero Rock Caves. Coat of Arms depicting spears, waves of
Lake Victoria, the Sun, a traditional drum, Crested Crane (Balearica
regulorum gibbericeps), the Ugandan Kob (Kobus kob thomasi), River Nile,
fertile land, coffee and cotton. Coat of Arms of the Bank of Uganda.
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Reverse
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Equator.
Outline map of Uganda. Antelopes Kudu. Woman hoisting a baby in the air
– National Independence Monument overlooking Speke Road and Nile Avenue in
Kampala.
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Watermark
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Crested
crane's head; Electrotype 1000; Cornerstones.
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Size
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130 x 63
mm
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Signature
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Emmanuel
Tumusiime Mutebile (Governor); George W. Nyeko (Secretary).
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Obverse description:
Nyero rock paintings
The Nyero rock paintings are located in eastern Uganda in Kumi District, 8 km (5.0 mi) west of Kumi town, about 200 km (124.3 mi) from the capital city Kampala. The Nyero rock paintings are among the most important rock art in Uganda.
History: Nyero rock paintings date to before 1250 CE. They were first documented in 1913 and later described by researchers as largely of geometric nature. This type of rock art is part of a homogeneous tradition often depicted in red pigment, spreading across east, central and parts of southern Africa, matching the distribution of the Late Stone Age hunter-gatherer culture. This art is generally attributed to Batwa (Twa) hunter-gatherers who are of Pygmy origin, and are today, in Eastern Africa, only found in small groups near the Rwanda/Uganda border and eastern Congo. It is likely that Twa hunter-gatherer communities once lived in the general area of these rock art sites, probably moving on due to the arrival of the present inhabitants (Nilotic, Luo, and Bantu groups). The paintings enrich the cultural identity of the people of Iteso, Uganda, and Africa as a whole.
Nyero rock art site has six shelters (Nyero 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6). The rock art sites are believed to have been sacred places of the gods. The red and white paintings remain valuable to the people of Teso but are also mysterious since the painters are unknown. In the past, the Iteso people of Nyero would sacrifice and pay offerings to the gods for problems of rain, misfortune, blessings and child bearing (Nyero 3). Individual and clan prayers were held on a seasonal basis. Oral history has recorded strong attachment to sites though people were stopped from praying in the 1970s by the Government at the time. Traces of smoke from sacrifices are still visible in some of the caves. The association of a sacred prayer place in the buffer zone continues to draw nearby communities to the site. Nyero rock art site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on 10 September 1997, in the Cultural category.
Lake
Victoria
Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nalubaale) is
a lake in Africa. It is bordered
and governed by the countries of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
The lake is in the western part of Africa's Great
Rift Valley. Lake Victoria is 68,800
square kilometres (26,560 mi²) in size. It is Africa's largest lake, and the second
largest fresh water lake in the world. It was named for Queen Victoria.
Reverse description:
National
Independence Monument of Uganda
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Independence
Monument
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The Independence Monument is printed at the back of Uganda’s currency notes.
Uganda was colonized by Britain around 1890’s. Captain Frederick Lugard, an administrator of Imperial British East African Company (IBEAC), raised the Union Jack (British Flag) at a fort he established on Old Kampala hill (Fort Lugard), and declared Uganda a British protectorate.
From that time, Uganda and her resources belonged to the British government. Indigenous people had little or no say about the future of their country.
The 1962 Uganda’s independence was welcomed with happiness and joy. Songs of jubilation and celebration were heard in all corners of the country. Gregory Maloba put up an independence monument to signify the independent Uganda.
It was instituted in the few months prior to the October 9th 1962 event. A huge towering concrete sculpture is symbolic in nature and it has several meanings attached to it.
It shows a woman standing on ground while lifting a baby in air, the woman with a roping around her body looks at a little boy in her hand who raises his hands in triumphant jubilation. The woman is mirroring the firm foundation that Uganda as country stands. The loosen body of the woman shows freedom from the bondage colonialism.
According to Marion I. Arnold, in the book, Art in Eastern Africa, the female figure with the child, growing from earth like a giant forest tree signify the motherland. The mother, standing astride, has both legs firmly attached to the ground strengthening her. Meaning Uganda is firm through the ages and not given to be moved now or in the future. The presence of voids within the binding may suggest that the bond between the colonial masters and their colonies has been loosened. But more specifically there, is an allusion to the stress of independence euphoria under which the sculpture was made. As her bonds fall away, Mother Uganda holds aloft a joyful newborn child of independence.
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