Territory of New Guinea

Last updated

Territory of New Guinea [1]
1914–1975
LocationTerritoryNewGuinea.png
Status Mandate of Australia
(1920–1946)
Trust Territory of Australia
(1946–1975)
Capital Rabaul (1914–1937)
Lae (1937–1942)
Wau (1942)
Capital-in-exile Port Moresby
Common languages English (official)
Austronesian languages
Papuan languages
English creoles
German creoles
Monarch  
• 1914–1936
George V
• 1952–1975
Elizabeth II
Administrator  
• 1914–1915
William Holmes (first)
• 1934–1942
Walter McNicoll (last) [2]
Legislature Legislative council
House of Assembly
Historical era Interwar period
28 June 1919
16 September 1975 [3]
Currency New Guinean pound (1914–1966)
Australian dollar (1966–75)
Oceanian pound (1942–45)
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Reichskolonialflagge.svg German New Guinea
1949:
Territory of Papua and New Guinea 		Flag of Australia.svg
1975:
Papua New Guinea 		Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg

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 name of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. That administrative union was renamed as Papua New Guinea in 1971. Notwithstanding that it was part of an administrative union, the Territory of New Guinea at all times retained a distinct legal status and identity until the advent of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.

Contents

The initial Australian mandate, entitled the Mandate for the German Possessions in the Pacific Ocean situated South of the Equator other than German Samoa and Nauru, was based on the previous German New Guinea, which had been captured and occupied by Australian forces during World War I.

Most of the Territory of New Guinea was occupied by Japan during World War II, between 1942 and 1945. During this time, Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, became a major Japanese base (see New Guinea campaign). After World War II, the territories of Papua and New Guinea were combined in an administrative union under the Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act (1945–46).

Background

In 1884, Germany formally took possession of the northeast quarter of New Guinea and it became known as German New Guinea. [4] In the same year, the British government proclaimed a protectorate over the southeastern quarter of New Guinea. The protectorate, called British New Guinea, was annexed by Britain outright on 4 September 1888. The territory was transferred to the newly federated Commonwealth of Australia on 18 March 1902, and British New Guinea became the Territory of Papua, with Australian administration beginning in 1906. [4] [5]

World War I to League of Nations mandate

Mandates in the Pacific: 1. South Seas Mandate 2. Mandate of New Guinea 3. Mandate of Nauru 4. Western Samoa Mandate League of Nations mandate Pacific.png
Mandates in the Pacific:
1. South Seas Mandate
2. Mandate of New Guinea
3. Mandate of Nauru
4. Western Samoa Mandate

One of the first actions of Australia's armed forces during World War I was the seizure by the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force of German New Guinea and the neighbouring islands of the Bismarck Archipelago in October 1914. [6] Germany administered several territories in the south and central Pacific which the British requested be captured by Australian and New Zealand forces. On 11 September 1914, a Royal Australian Navy force arrived off Rabaul with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force and naval troops were landed at Herbertshohe and Kabakaul to search for German radio stations, facing some minor German resistance. Rabaul was occupied, unopposed, on 12 September. The German administration surrendered German New Guinea on 17 September. Australian troops and vessels were subsequently dispatched to occupy Germany's other territories including the New Guinea mainland, New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands, the Western Islands, Bougainville, and the German Solomons. [7] The colony remained under Australian military control until 1921. [4]

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." [8]

Article 22 of the Treaty of Versailles provided for the division of Germany and the Central Powers' imperial possessions among the victorious Allies of World War I. In the Pacific, Japan gained Germany's islands north of the equator (the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands, the Marianas Islands, the Palau Islands) and Kiautschou in China. German Samoa was assigned to New Zealand; German New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and Nauru to Australia as League of Nations Mandates: territories "formerly governed [by the Central Powers] and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world". Article 22 said: [9]

There are territories, such as South-West Africa and certain of the South Pacific Islands, which, owing to the sparseness of their population, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centres of civilisation, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the Mandatory, and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory, subject to the safeguards above mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population.

The British Government, on behalf of Australia, assumed a mandate from the League of Nations for governing the Territory on 17 December 1920. The terms of the mandate were not received in Australia until April 1921. [10] This mandate was enacted and administered by the Australian Government through the New Guinea Act 1920 until the outbreak of the Pacific War and Japanese invasion in December 1941 brought about its suspension. [4]

Interwar Period

1936 silver shilling of the TNG, with native designs on reverse Australian New Guinea 1936 Silver Shilling.jpg
1936 silver shilling of the TNG, with native designs on reverse

The first civilian administrator, Brigadier-General Evan Wisdom, made Rabaul on the island of New Britain the capital of the Australian Mandate New Guinea. The German settlers in the territory of New Guinea were expropriated from 1921 and expelled to Germany, only a few Germans were allowed to stay.

The dynamic economic development of the former German colony, which occurred during the tenure of Governor Albert Hahl, stagnated because of the expropriations. Around 268 plantations, 20 larger shops, workshops and operating facilities were sold to new owners. Many of the new plantation owners, often former Australian soldiers, had little experience of farming in tropical climates. [11]

Originally, the German missionaries should also be expelled. However, through the influence of American and Australian Lutherans, the Neuendettelsau missionaries were able to continue their work and were allowed to travel to New Guinea again from 1928. The Steyler missionaries and the Steyler Missionary Sisters were also affected by the planned deportation. The Apostolic Delegate in Australia, Archbishop Bartolomeo Cattaneo (1866–1933), advocated the whereabouts of the German-speaking Catholic missionaries, from the orders of the Sacred Heart Missionaries (MSC), Marists (SM) and the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) ), who held this post in Australia from 1917 to 1933. [12] The Archbishops of Sydney and New York also appealed to the Australian and American governments, asking that the deportation plans be withdrawn. To this day, German missionaries from the Protestant Neuendettelsauer Mission and the Catholic Sacred Heart of Jesus and Steyler missionaries work in Papua New Guinea.

From 1926, after Germany joined the League of Nations, Germans could no longer be expelled from the territory of a League of Nations mandate. In the 1930s there were 4,500 foreigners in the Mandate New Guinea, four times more than in Papua, including 1,000 Chinese and 400 Germans.

In 1921 gold was found in Wau. A few years later, as a result of the gold rush, gold seekers streamed through the port of Salamaua to Wau. In 1926 another, more productive gold field was found on Edie Creek near Wau. Since there were no roads yet and the transport over mountain paths was very laborious for the gold prospectors, it was necessary to fly in the heavy equipment. In 1937 and 1938, Bulolo Gold Dredging & Co and Guinea Airways moved more air freight with four Junkers G 31 cargo planes between Lae and Wau than in the rest of the world combined. [13]

Wisdom was replaced on June 13, 1933, by Brigadier General Thomas Griffiths. Brigadier General Walter Ramsay McNicoll followed on September 13, 1934. In Rabaul, the eruptions of the volcano Mount Tavurvur and its neighbouring summit Matupit on the Vulcan Island on May 29, 1937, led to extensive destruction of the infrastructure and made the city almost uninhabitable. The seat of the administration of the territory was moved to Lae on the island of New Guinea. When Lae was destroyed by a Japanese air raid on January 20, 1942, Administrator McNicoll moved the administration to Wau. McNicoll contracted malaria and had to resign at the end of 1942.

World War II

Australian soldier, Private George "Dick" Whittington, being aided by Papuan orderly Raphael Oimbari near Buna on 25 December 1942 Wounded Australian soldier led by a Papuan orderly at Buna.jpg
Australian soldier, Private George "Dick" Whittington, being aided by Papuan orderly Raphael Oimbari near Buna on 25 December 1942

Shortly after the start of the Pacific War, New Guinea was invaded by the Japanese. Most of West Papua, at that time known as Dutch New Guinea, was occupied, as were large parts of the Territory of New Guinea but the Territory of Papua was protected to a large extent by its southern location and the near-impassable Owen Stanley Ranges to the north.

The New Guinea campaign opened with the battles for New Britain and New Ireland in the Territory of New Guinea in 1942. Rabaul, the capital of the Territory was overwhelmed on 22–23 January and was established as a major Japanese base from whence they landed on mainland New Guinea and advanced towards Port Moresby and Australia. [14] Having had their initial effort to capture Port Moresby by a seaborne invasion disrupted by the U.S. Navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese attempted a landward invasion from the north via the Kokoda Track. From July 1942, a few Australian reserve battalions, many of them very young and untrained, fought a stubborn rearguard action against a Japanese advance along the Kokoda Track, towards Port Moresby, over the rugged Owen Stanley Ranges. [15] Local Papuans, called Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels by the Australians, assisted and escorted injured Australian troops down the Kokoda track. The militia, worn out and severely depleted by casualties, were relieved in late August by regular troops from the Second Australian Imperial Force, returning from action in the Mediterranean theater.

The Japanese on the Kokoda Track were ordered to retreat to the coast so the Japanese could focus their efforts on the Battle of Guadalcanal, and the Australians pursued them back to the Buna-Gona area. The bitter Battle of Buna-Gona followed in which Australian and United States forces attacked the main Japanese beachheads in New Guinea, at Buna, Sanananda and Gona. Facing tropical disease, difficult terrain and well-constructed Japanese defences, the allies finally achieved victory after experiencing heavy casualties. [16] 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. [17] The Supreme Commander of operations was the United States General Douglas Macarthur, with Australian General Thomas Blamey taking a direct role in planning and operations being essentially directed by staff at New Guinea Force headquarters in Port Moresby. [18] Bitter fighting continued in New Guinea between the largely Australian force and the Japanese 18th Army based in New Guinea until the Surrender of Japan to end the war on 2 September 1945. The New Guinea campaign 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. [19]

Administrative unification with Papua

After the war, civil administration of Papua and of New Guinea was restored, and under the Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act, 1945–46, Papua and New Guinea were combined in a new administrative union. [4] [20] The Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 united the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea as the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. However, for the purposes of Australian nationality a distinction was maintained between the two territories.[ citation needed ] The act provided for a Legislative Council (which was established in 1951), a judicial organization, a public service, and a system of local government. [4]

Under Australian Minister for External Territories Andrew Peacock, the territory adopted self-government in 1972 and on 15 September 1975, during the term of the Whitlam government in Australia, the Territory became the independent nation of Papua New Guinea. [21] [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Papua New Guinea</span> Chronicle 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 the 17th century.

Lae is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highlands Region and the coast. Lae is the largest cargo port of the country and is the industrial hub of Papua New Guinea. The city is known as the Garden City and home of the University of Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Territory of Papua</span> British and Australian colony in Oceania from 1883 to 1975

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 annexation but in 1884 a protectorate was proclaimed over the territory, then called "British New Guinea". There is a certain ambiguity about the exact date on which the entire territory was annexed by the British. The Papua Act 1905 recites that this happened "on or about" 4 September 1888. On 18 March 1902, the Territory was placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia. Resolutions of acceptance were passed by the Commonwealth Parliament, which accepted the territory under the name of Papua.

Maroubra Force was the name given to the ad hoc Australian infantry force that defended Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea from the Japanese, and was involved in the Kokoda Track Campaign of the Pacific War, World War II. The force was established by the Allies under the codename "Maroubra", referring to the troops in the forward area, it was one of many units forming the body of the New Guinea Force, the main Allied army formation in the South West Pacific Area during 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Rabaul (1942)</span> WWII battle in the Pacific Theater

The Battle of Rabaul, also known by the Japanese as Operation R, an instigating action of the New Guinea campaign, was fought on the island of New Britain in the Australian Territory of New Guinea, from 23 January into February 1942. It was a strategically significant defeat of Allied forces by Japan in the Pacific campaign of World War II, with the Japanese invasion force quickly overwhelming the small Australian garrison, the majority of which was either killed or captured. Hostilities on the neighbouring island of New Ireland are usually considered to be part of the same battle. Rabaul was significant because of its proximity to the Japanese territory of the Caroline Islands, site of a major Imperial Japanese Navy base on Truk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morobe Province</span> Place in Papua New Guinea

Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810, and since the division of Southern Highlands Province in May 2012 it is the most populous province. It includes the Huon Peninsula, the Markham River, and delta, and coastal territories along the Huon Gulf. The province has nine administrative districts. At least 101 languages are spoken, including Kâte and Yabem language. English and Tok Pisin are common languages in the urban areas, and in some areas pidgin forms of German are mixed with the native language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodenough Island</span> Island in Papua New Guinea

Goodenough Island in the Solomon Sea, also known as Nidula Island, is the westernmost of the three large islands of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. It lies to the east of mainland New Guinea and southwest of the Trobriand Islands. It is roughly circular in shape, measuring 39 by 26 kilometres with an area of 687 square kilometres (265 sq mi) and a shoreline of 116 kilometres (72 mi). From a coastal belt varying in width from 2 to 10 kilometres in width, the island rises sharply to the summit of Mount Vineuo, 2,536 metres (8,320 ft) above sea level, making it one of the most precipitous islands in the world. The small outlier Wagifa Island lies to the south-east of the island, and is included within Goodenough's administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Guinea campaign</span> WWII campaigns by Japan to conquer New Guinea, and by Allies to retake it

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 Territory of New Guinea on 23 January and Territory of Papua on 21 July and overran western New Guinea beginning on 29 March. During the second phase, lasting from late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Allies—consisting primarily of Australian forces—cleared the Japanese first from Papua, then New Guinea, and finally from the Dutch colony.

The Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Papua New Guinea has approximately two million Catholic adherents, approximately 27% of the country's total population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Mo</span> 1942 Japanese planned military offensive against the Australian territory of New Guinea

Operation Mo or the Port Moresby Operation was a Japanese plan to take control of the Australian Territory of New Guinea during World War II as well as other locations in the South Pacific. The goal was to isolate Australia and New Zealand from the Allied United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Territory of Papua and New Guinea</span> 1949–1975 Australian territory in east 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 Guinea 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Guinea Volunteer Rifles</span> Military unit

The New Guinea Volunteer Rifles (NGVR) was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. It was initially raised as a unit of the Militia from white Australian and European expatriates in New Guinea upon the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, before being activated for full-time service following the Japanese landings in early 1942. NGVR personnel then helped rescue survivors of Lark Force from Rabaul in February and March 1942. Between March and May, the NGVR monitored the Japanese bases which had been established in the Huon Gulf region, being the only Allied force in the area until the arrival of Kanga Force at Wau in May. The battalion subsequently established observation posts overlooking the main approaches and reported on Japanese movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Guinea Force</span> Military unit

New Guinea Force was a military command unit for Australian, United States and native troops from the Territories of Papua and New Guinea serving in the New Guinea campaign during World War II. Formed in April 1942, when the Australian First Army was formed from the Australian I Corps after it returned from the Middle East, it was responsible for planning and directing all operations within the territory up until October 1944. General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area Operational Instruction No.7 of 25 May 1942, issued by Commander-Allied-Forces, General Douglas MacArthur, placed all Australian and US Army, Air Force and Navy Forces in the Port Moresby Area under the control of New Guinea Force. Over the course of its existence, New Guinea Force was commanded by some of the Australian Army's most notable commanders, including Sydney Rowell, Sir Edmund Herring and Sir Leslie Morshead.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">30th Brigade (Australia)</span> Infantry brigade of the Australian Army during World War II

The 30th Brigade was a brigade-sized infantry unit of the Australian Army. Formed in December 1941, as part of the Militia, the unit was raised for service during the Second World War. Established in response to Japan's entry into the war, the brigade's subordinate units were established in several Australian states. Some of these had already been dispatched to New Guinea before the brigade's headquarters was established, although the majority arrived there in early 1942. Following their arrival, the brigade initially provided garrison troops to Port Moresby before later taking part in the fighting along the Kokoda Track during which elements took part in delaying actions around Kokoda and Isurava, before being relieved by units of the Second Australian Imperial Force. After the campaign began to turn in favour of the Australians, the Japanese withdrew north towards their beachheads around Buna and Gona, and elements of the brigade were recommitted to the fighting. In early 1943, the 30th Brigade was withdrawn back to Australia and was disbanded in July 1943, with its personnel being redistributed to other formations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invasion of Buna–Gona</span>

The invasion of Buna–Gona, called Operation RI by the Japanese, was a military operation by Imperial Japanese forces to occupy the Buna–Gona area in the Territory of Papua during the Pacific campaign of the Second World War. The initial landings and advance on Kokoda occurred between 21 and 27 July 1942. The Japanese invaded and occupied the location in preparation for an overland attack on Port Moresby along the Kokoda Track. The landing marked the start of the Kokoda Track campaign. The landings were not directly opposed by land forces but were engaged by elements of Maroubra Force as they advanced on Kokoda. This initially included B Company of the 39th Battalion, patrols of the Papuan Infantry Battalion (PIB) operating in the area and a small number of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) that became attached to the force. The Australians were initially repulsed near Oivi but subsequently regrouped to defend Kokoda in an initial battle there from 28–29 July.

John Bexley Sedgers was an Australian businessman. He spent much of his career in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, where he served in the Legislative Council from 1951 to 1954.

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The Martyrs of New Guinea were Christians including clergy, teachers, and medical staff serving in New Guinea who were executed during the Japanese invasion during World War II in 1942 and 1943. A total of 333 church workers including Papuans and visiting missionaries from a range of denominations were killed during the invasion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese occupation of New Guinea</span> 1941–1945 occupation during World War II

The Japanese occupation of New Guinea or can also called as Japanese New Guinea was the military occupation of the island of New Guinea by the Empire of Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II when Japanese forces captured the city of Rabaul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">US Naval Base New Guinea</span> Major World War 2 bases in Papua New Guinea

US Naval Base New Guinea was number of United States Navy bases on the island of New Guinea during World War II. Australia entered World War II on 3 September 1939, being a self-governing nation within the British Empire. The United States formally entered the war on 7 December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan quickly took over much of the South Pacific Ocean. The United States lost key naval bases in the South Pacific, including Naval Base Manila and Naval Base Subic Bay, both lost in the 1941–42 invasion of the Philippines. Also lost were Naval Base Guam and Wake Atoll. As such, the United States Armed Forces needed new bases in the South West Pacific for staging attacks on Japan's southern empire. The United States built bases first in Australia, then in New Guinea.

References

  1. ↑ New Guinea Act, 1920 to 1945; Papua and New Guinea Act, 1949 (as to its official and commonly used name being Territory of New Guinea and not Trust Territory of New Guinea)
  2. ↑ McNicoll was the last administrator who ran a separate administration from Papua
  3. ↑ As to the Territory of New Guinea having continued to have a legal existence as a distinct territory, separate and distinct from the Territory of Papua, note the following Recital to the Papua New Guinea Independence Act, 1975 "WHEREAS the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 provided for the administration of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea by Australia in an administrative union, by the name of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, whilst maintaining the identity and status of the Territory of New Guinea as a Trust Territory and the identity and status of the Territory of Papua as a Possession of the Crown".
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Papua New Guinea". State.gov. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  5. ↑ Commonwealth and Colonial Law by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. p. 132 where it is noted that "On 18 March 1902 Letters Patent [S.R.O & S.I. Rev. II, 1096] made for the purposes of section 122 of the Australian Constitution, placed the territory under the Commonwealth of Australia"
  6. ↑ "First World War 1914–18 | Australian War Memorial". Awm.gov.au. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "Operations against German Pacific territories | Australian War Memorial". Awm.gov.au. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "Remembering the war in New Guinea – Why were the Japanese were in New Guinea". Ajrp.awm.gov.au. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  9. ↑ Michael Duffy (22 August 2009). "Primary Documents – Treaty of Versailles: Articles 1–30 and Annex". First World War.com. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  10. ↑ Commonwealth and Colonial Law by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. p. 886
  11. ↑ Bob Mckillop, Michael Pearon: End of the Line: A History of Railways in Papua New Guinea, 4. Mandated Territory (PDF; 336 kB) University of Papua New Guinea Press, Port Moresby 1997 S. 2
  12. ↑ Paul Steffen: Missionsbeginn in Neuguinea. Die Anfänge der Rheinischen, Neuendettelsauer und Steyler Missionsarbeit in Neuguinea, Steyler Verlag: Nettetal 1995, S. 288–289, ISBN 3-8050-0351-X.
  13. ↑ Junkers G31go VH-UOW Guinea Airways The Airways Museum & Civil Aviation Historical Society
  14. ↑ "Remembering the war in New Guinea – Rabaul". Ajrp.awm.gov.au. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  15. ↑ "Kokoda Trail Campaign | Australian War Memorial". Awm.gov.au. 21 July 1942. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  16. ↑ "Battle of Buna | Australian War Memorial". Awm.gov.au. 21 July 1941. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  17. ↑ "Wartime Issue 23 – New Guinea Offensive". Awm.gov.au. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  18. ↑ "Wartime Issue 23 – New Guinea Offensive | Australian War Memorial". Awm.gov.au. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  19. ↑ "Remembering the war in New Guinea". Ajrp.awm.gov.au. 9 August 1942. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  20. ↑ Papua-New Guinea Provisional Administration Act 1945
  21. ↑ Archived 4 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ↑ "In office – Gough Whitlam – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers". Primeministers.naa.gov.au. Retrieved 24 June 2013.

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