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 Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
(the latter being a
United Nations trust territory
United Nations trust territories were the successors of the remaining League of Nations mandates and came into being when the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946. All of the trust territories were administered through the United Nati ...
administered by Australia) in 1949. In December 1971, the name of the Territory changed to "Papua New Guinea" and in 1975 it became the
Independent State of Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
.
Background
Ancient history
Archeological evidence suggests that humans arrived on
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
around 50,000 years ago. These
Melanesian
Melanesian is the adjectival form of Melanesia. It may refer to:
* Melanesians
* Melanesian mythology
* Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceani ...
people developed stone tools and agriculture. Portuguese and Spanish navigators sailing in the South Pacific entered New Guinea waters in the early part of the 16th century and in 1526–27,
Jorge de Menezes
Jorge de Menezes (c. 1498 – 1537) was a Portuguese explorer, who in 1526–27 landed on the islands of Biak ( Cenderawasih Bay), whilst he awaited the passing of the monsoon season, and on the northern coasts of the Bird's Head Peninsula, call ...
came upon the principal island "Papua". In 1545, the Spaniard
Iñigo Ortiz de Retes gave the island the name "New Guinea" because of what he saw as a resemblance between the islands' inhabitants and those found on the African Guinea coast. Knowledge of the interior of the island remained scant for several centuries after these initial European encounters.
Colonisation and World Wars
In 1884, Germany formally took possession of the northeast quarter of the island and it became known as
German New Guinea
German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...
.
In 1884, a British protectorate was proclaimed over Papua – the southern coast of New Guinea. The protectorate, called
British New Guinea
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 ...
, was annexed outright on 4 September 1888 and possession passed to the newly federated
Commonwealth of Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
in 1902 and British New Guinea became the Australian
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 ...
, with Australian administration beginning in 1906.
The
Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force seized
German New Guinea
German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...
and the neighbouring islands of the
Bismarck Archipelago
The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km.
History
The first inhabitants o ...
for the Allies in 1914, during the early stages of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. At the 1919
Paris Peace Conference following the war, Australian Prime Minister
Billy Hughes sought to secure possession of New Guinea from the defeated German Empire: telling the Conference: "Strategically the northern islands (such as New Guinea) encompass Australia like fortresses. They are as necessary to Australia as water to a city." Article 22 of the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
provided for the division of Germany and the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
' imperial possessions among the victorious
Allies of World War I
The Allies of World War I, Entente Powers, or Allied Powers were a coalition of countries led by France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Japan, and the United States against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Em ...
and German New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and Nauru were assigned to Australia as
League of Nations Mandate
A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administ ...
s: territories "formerly governed
y the Central Powersand which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world".
Shortly after the start of the
Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
, the island of New Guinea was invaded by the Japanese. Most of
West Papua, at that time known as
Dutch New Guinea
Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingd ...
, was occupied, as were large parts of the Territory of New Guinea. The
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Australian-administered Mandated Territory of New Guinea (23 Jan ...
was a major campaign of the Pacific War. In all, some 200,000 Japanese soldiers, sailors and airmen died during the campaign against approximately 7,000 Australian and 7,000 American service personnel. Major battles included the
Battle of Kokoda Trail,
Battle of Buna-Gona
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and for ...
and
Battle of Milne Bay
The Battle of Milne Bay (25 August – 7 September 1942), also known as Operation RE or the Battle of Rabi (ラビの戦い) by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines, known as ''Kaigun Tokub ...
. The offensives in Papua and New Guinea of 1943–44 were the single largest series of connected operations ever mounted by the Australian armed forces. Bitter fighting continued in New Guinea between the Allies and the Japanese
18th Army based in New Guinea until the
Japanese surrender
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...
in 1945.
Establishment of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea
Following the
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...
in 1945, civil administration of Papua and New Guinea was restored, and under the
Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act (1945–46), Papua and New Guinea were combined in an administrative union.
The
Papua and New Guinea Act 1949
The ''Papua and New Guinea Act 1949'' was an Act passed by the Parliament of Australia. It replaced the ''Papua Act 1905'' and the ''New Guinea Act 1920'', and changed the status of the territories of Papua and New Guinea by merging their admin ...
united, for administrative purposes only, 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 na ...
as the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. The Act formally approved the placing of New Guinea under the
international trusteeship system and confirmed the administrative union of New Guinea and Papua under the title of The Territory of Papua and New Guinea. It also provided for
a Legislative Council (which was established in 1951), a judicial organization, a public service, and a system of local government.
The House of Assembly replaced the Legislative Council in 1963, and the first
House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea
The House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea was the legislature of the territory of Papua and New Guinea from 1964 to 1972. Before 1964, the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea sat from 1951 to 1964 under the Papua and New Guinea Act 19 ...
opened on 8 June 1964.
In 1963, the population was approximately two million, of which about 25,000 were non-indigenous. The economy was based on cash crops including
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
,
cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
, and
copra
Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copr ...
as well as timber mills, wharves and factories. Difficult terrain rendered communication between districts difficult and there was a lack of national unity in the territory.
One of the ways in which the territory was administered was through the use of patrol officers. Between 1949 and 1974, more than 2000 Australians served as patrol officers, known locally as "
kiap
Kiaps, known formally as district officers and patrol officers, were travelling representatives of the British and Australian governments with wide-ranging authority, in pre-independence Papua New Guinea.
Etymology
'Kiap' is a Papua New Guinean c ...
s". The job of patrol officers involved: facilitating the consolidation of administrative influence, maintaining the rule of law, conducting court cases and presiding as Magistrate, carrying out police work, conducting censuses, encouraging economic development, providing escorts, purchasing land for governmental use and overseeing local elections.
Towards independence
On 13 December 1971 the name of the territory was changed to Papua New Guinea.
Under Australian Minister for External Territories
Andrew Peacock
Andrew Sharp Peacock (13 February 193916 April 2021) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He served as a cabinet minister and went on to become leader of the Liberal Party on two occasions (1983–1985 and 1989–1990), leading the par ...
, the territory adopted self-government in 1972. 1972 elections saw the formation of a ministry headed by Chief Minister
Michael Somare
Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 26 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the "father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...
, who pledged to lead PNG to self-government and then to independence.
Following the passage of the
Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975
The Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975 was an Act passed by the Parliament of Australia. It replaced the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949, and changed the status of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea to that of an independent Papua New Gui ...
, during the term of the
Whitlam Government in Australia, the Territory became the
Independent State of Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
and attained independence on 16 September 1975.
See also
*
History of Papua New Guinea
The prehistory of Papua New Guinea can be traced to about 50,000–60,000 years ago, when people first migrated towards the Australian continent. The written history began when European navigators first sighted New Guinea in the early part of th ...
*
History of Nauru
The history of human activity in Nauru, an island country in the Pacific Ocean, began roughly 3,000 years ago when clans settled the island.
Early history
Nauru was settled by Micronesians around 3,000 years ago, and there is evidence of po ...
– the other
League of Nations mandate
A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administ ...
and
United Nations Trust Territory
United Nations trust territories were the successors of the remaining League of Nations mandates and came into being when the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946. All of the trust territories were administered through the United Nati ...
of Australia
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Territory Of Papua And New Guinea
Australia and the Commonwealth of Nations
1975 disestablishments in Oceania
Proposed states and territories of Australia
States and territories established in 1949
20th century in Australia
1949 establishments in Papua New Guinea
1975 disestablishments in Papua New Guinea
Former colonies in Oceania
United Nations trust territories
20th-century disestablishments in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea and the Commonwealth of Nations