General elections were held in

Papua and New Guinea The Territory of Papua and New Guinea, officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New G ...

for the first time on 10 November 1951.P-NG Legislative Council: Election of Three Members
Pacific Islands Monthly, November 1951, p11

Electoral system

The Legislative Council was formed following the amalgamation of the

Territory of Papua The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the a ...

and the

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an administrative union by the nam ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The bill passed by the Australian parliament provided for a 29-member Council consisting of the

Administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

, 16 civil servants, nine members appointed by the Administrator (three representatives of the indigenous population, three representing European settlers and three representing missionaries) and three elected Europeans. The Administrator served as presiding officer of the legislature. Voting was restricted to residents aged 21 or over who had lived in the territory for the last 12 months prior to registering to vote and were not classed as a native or alien.''Legislative Council 1951'', Institute of Commonwealth Studies The

Chinese community The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...

were also given the right to vote alongside Europeans. Candidates had to have lived continuously in the territory for the three years prior to submitting their nomination paper and not be a public employee. The three elected members were elected from three single-member constituencies, New Guinea Islands, New Guinea Mainland and Papua by

preferential voting {{short description, Election systems Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of pr ...

Results

Appointed members

Aftermath

The new Legislative Council met for the first time in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

on 26 November. In February 1952 Steven Lonergan (Government Secretary) and R.E.P. Dwyer (Director of Agriculture) replaced Claude Champion and Colin Marr, who had been acting in their positions at the time the council was appointed. Thomas Byrne died in February 1952 and was temporarily replaced by Acting Chief Collector of Customs Thomas Grahamslaw until Frank Lee was appointed as Byrne's permanent replacement later in the year.P-NG Legislative Council
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', March 1952, p56

Bert Jones Bertram Hays Jones (born September 7, 1951) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams. At Ruston High School in Ruston, Louisiana, he was given the ...

was replaced by the new Director of Native Affairs Alan Roberts in November 1953.Promotion for Mr. A.A. Roberts
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', December 1953, p42 C.D. Bates (District Commissioner for Morobe) and Douglas Macinnis (Secretary of Lands, Surveys and Mines) also joined the Council during its term.

References

{{Papua New Guinean elections Elections in Papua New Guinea Papua 1951 in Papua New Guinea Politics of Papua and New Guinea Election and referendum articles with incomplete results November 1951 events in Oceania