I can't comment generally, but the first penal colony in Australia suffered from its isolation and trade defecit.

In New South Wales (the first Australian colony), there was a severe shortage of currency, this was mainly due to the colony spending anything it had when visiting merchant ships arrived. Founded in 1788, a trade and barter scheme arose with those who controlled the best alternative to coins (rum) having power to rival the governor. The situation hit crisis point in 1808 when governor Bligh banned the use of rum as currency ... this provoked a rebellion and then Bligh's epic banishment. When order was restored the new governor MacQuarie got his hands on a chest of Spanish dollars and got a convict forger to cut out the middle to make 'holey dollars' and 'dumps' worth 5 shilling and 15 pence respectively - the advantage being that the coins were only of full value within the colony and so would not be used to purchase goods from traders.

sources : sorry these are not great, hopefully someone will improve upon these and give a bit more detail.

http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/highlights/holey_dollar

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/terra-australis-australia/1808-rum-rebellion