Territory of Papua | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1902–1975 | |||||||||||
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| Status | Australian external territory(1902–1975) | ||||||||||
| Capital | Port Moresby | ||||||||||
| Common languages | English (official),Tok Pisin,Hiri Motu (nativelingua franca), manyAustronesian languages,Papuan languages | ||||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||||
| Lieutenant-Governor | |||||||||||
| Legislature | Legislative Council | ||||||||||
| Establishment | |||||||||||
• Transfer ofBritish New Guinea to Australia | 18 March 1902 | ||||||||||
• Commencement ofPapua Act 1905 | 1 September 1906 | ||||||||||
| 1 July 1949 | |||||||||||
| 15 September 1975 | |||||||||||
| Currency | Australian pound | ||||||||||
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TheTerritory of Papua was an Australian external territory comprising the south-eastern portion of the island ofNew Guinea. TheCrown colony ofBritish New Guinea was ceded to Australia in 1902 and formally organised as a separate territory in 1906. It was administratively merged with theTerritory of New Guinea to the north in 1949 to form theTerritory of Papua and New Guinea, which gained independence asPapua New Guinea in 1975.
In November 1882,Allgemeine Zeitung published an article calling for the German annexation of New Guinea. Concerned with such a prospect, SirThomas McIlwraith, thePremier ofQueensland, cabled to London in February 1883, urging the government to annex New Guinea to Queensland, but received no answer. On 20 March, hearing the story thatSMSCarola was about to leave Sydney forthe South Seas "with object of annexation", he telegraphedHenry Chester, the police magistrate atThursday Island, to sail for New Guinea and "take formal possession in Her Majesty’s name of whole of the Island with exception ofthat portion in occupation of the Dutch". Chester made the proclamation atPort Moresby on 4 April,[1][2] but the imperial British government disapproved of the annexation:[3] the BritishColonial SecretaryLord Derby emphasised in a despatch to the Queensland government that such an action was beyond Queensland's constitutional powers as a British colony.[4][5][6]
On 6 November 1884, after the Australian colonies had promised financial support, the territory became a Britishprotectorate. On 4 September 1888 the protectorate was annexed by Britain, together with some adjacent islands, which were collectively namedBritish New Guinea.[7]
On 18 March 1902, KingEdward VII issuedletters patent placing "our possession of British New Guinea under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia" and authorising thegovernor-general of Australia to exercise all authority previously held by the governor of Queensland until theParliament of Australia provided otherwise.[8] The Territory of Papua was not formally constituted until 1 September 1906, when the provisions of thePapua Act 1905 came into effect pursuant tosection 122 of the constitution. This four-year gap has been described as aninterregnum, where Papua was under Australian sovereignty – holding a status similar to anunorganised U.S. territory – but the existing institutions of government of British New Guinea largely continued in place.[9]
There were several reasons for the delay in the Australian parliament passing legislation to organise the territory, including interruptions from changes of government and elections, the need to make administrative arrangements, and debates over intended government policy in the territory.[10] TheBarton government began preparation of legislation in February 1903 and presented a draft bill in July 1903, intending for its provisions to come into effect on 1 January 1904.[11] However, the initial draft was abandoned shortly before the1903 federal election.[12] A major sticking point in parliament was the attempt oftemperance advocates to impose universalprohibition of alcohol in the territory.[13] ThePapua Act 1905 was eventually passed in November 1905, with theDeakin government compromising by introducing alocal option for liquor licences and prohibiting the sale of alcohol to natives.[14]
In June 1903, the Australian government appointedChristopher Stansfield Robinson as acting administrator of the territory. Robinson led apunitive expedition toGoaribari Island in March 1904, seeking to recover the bodies of missionariesJames Chalmers andOliver Fellows Tomkins, who had been murdered in 1901, and punish the perpetrators. Several Papuans were shot dead by the expedition, which received considerable attention in Australia after local missionaryCharles Abel wrote to the press alleging a massacre had occurred. The Australian government called aroyal commission in response to the allegations, which led to Robinson's suicide.[15] A further royal commission was called in 1906 following allegations of administrative misconduct, the report of which "recommended the immediate removal of most senior officials of the colony including the administrator who had asked for the enquiry" and led to the appointment ofHubert Murray as lieutenant-governor, who would remain in office until 1940.[9]
Meanwhile, the northern part of New Guinea was under German commercial control from 1884, and from 1899 was directly ruled by the German government as thecolony ofGerman New Guinea, then known asKaiser-Wilhelmsland. At the outbreak of theFirst World War in 1914, Australia invaded Kaiser-Wilhelmsland on 11 September 1914 with 2000 volunteers of theAustralian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force. After several skirmishes, the Australians succeeded in capturing the German colony, which they occupied for the rest of the war. TheTreaty of Versailles in 1919 transferred German New Guinea to Australia, which administered it as theTerritory of New Guinea.
Shortly after the start of thePacific War, the island of New Guinea was invaded by theJapanese. Papua was the least affected region. Most ofWest Papua, at that time known asDutch New Guinea, was occupied, as were large parts of theTerritory of New Guinea (the formerGerman New Guinea, which was also under Australian rule afterWorld War I), but Papua was protected to a large extent by its southern location and the near-impassableOwen Stanley Ranges to the north. Civil administration was suspended during the war and both territories (Papua and New Guinea) were placed undermartial law for the duration.[citation needed]
TheNew Guinea campaign opened with the battles forNew Britain andNew Ireland in theTerritory of New Guinea in 1942.Rabaul, the capital of the Territory, wasoverwhelmed on 22–23 January and was established as a major Japanese base from where the Japanese landed on mainland New Guinea and advanced towards Port Moresby and Australia.[16] Having had their initial effort to capture Port Moresby by a seaborne invasion disrupted by theU.S. Navy and Australian navy in theBattle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese attempted a landward attack from the north via theKokoda Track. From July 1942, a few Australian reserve battalions, many of them very young and untrained, fought a stubbornrearguard action against the Japanese attack, over the ruggedOwen Stanley Ranges.[17] The militia, worn out and severely depleted by casualties, held out with the assistance of Papuan porters and medical assistants, and were relieved in late August by regular troops from the Second Australian Imperial Force, returning from action in theMediterranean Theatre.
In early September 1942 Japanese marines attacked a strategic Royal Australian Air Force base atMilne Bay, near the eastern tip of Papua. They were beaten back by the Australian Army, and theBattle of Milne Bay was the first outright defeat of Japanese land forces in the Pacific theater during World War II.[18] 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.[19] The Supreme Commander of operations was the United States GeneralDouglas Macarthur, with Australian GeneralThomas Blamey taking a direct role in planning, and operations being essentially directed by staff at New Guinea Force headquarters in Port Moresby.[19] Bitter fighting continued in New Guinea between the largely Australian force and the Japanese18th Army based in New Guinea until theJapanese surrender in 1945.
After the war, thePapua and New Guinea Act 1949 united the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea as theTerritory of Papua and New Guinea. However, for the purposes ofAustralian nationality a distinction was maintained between the two territories.[20] The act provided for aLegislative Council (which was established in 1951), a judicial system, a public service, and a system of local government.[21] Notwithstanding that it was part of an administrative union, the Territory of Papua at all times retained a distinct legal status and identity; it was a Possession ofthe Crown, whereas the Territory of New Guinea was initially aLeague of Nations mandate territory and subsequently aUnited Nations trust territory. This legal and political distinction remained until the advent of theIndependent State of Papua New Guinea in 1975.
UnderAustralian Minister for External TerritoriesAndrew Peacock, the territory adopted self-government in 1972 and on 15 September 1975, during the term of theWhitlam government in Australia, the Territory became the independent nation ofPapua New Guinea.[22][23]
ThePapua Act 1905 created the new post oflieutenant-governor of Papua, who was appointed by thegovernor-general of Australia on the advice of the relevant minister. The lieutenant-governor was assisted by anexecutive council comprising six government officials. Alegislative council was also established comprising the six "official" members of the executive council and three "unofficial" members nominated by the lieutenant-governor from the territory's white population.[24]
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