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| Established | 1977 |
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| Location | Waigani, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea |
| Coordinates | 09°25′32.2″S147°11′24.4″E / 9.425611°S 147.190111°E |
| Type | museum |
| Website | www.museumpng.gov.pg |
The Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) is a museum and art gallery in Waigani, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It is the national museum of Papua New Guinea.
In 1889 the British governor of Papua New Guinea, William Macgregor began a collecting programme in order to create a collection of natural history specimens and objects reflecting the uniqueness of the animals and cultures in the territory. The initial aim of the program had also been to establish a museum, however the idea did not gain traction and the collection was ultimately dispersed to a number of museums in Australia, until such a time as the country had its own museum. [1]
During the 1950s, the development of a museum progressed: in 1953 an Antiquities Ordinance was established and a new programme of collection begun. [1] A board of trustees for the proposed establishment of the museum was formed in 1954. [2] The Public Museums and Art Galleries Ordinance was created in 1956 established the Papua New Guinea Public Museum and Art Gallery. [1]
The museum collections were initially housed in disused government buildings, and in 1960 they moved to an old hospital. However progress was difficult due to a lack of specialised staff and facilities. From 1973, the government, funded in part by a grant from Australia, set out on a Cultural Development Program, which committed to the development of the museum. [1] This was, and continues to be, in recognition of the impact that Australian colonial administration had on Papua New Guinea. [3]
During the 1960s the museum was also charged with control of the trade in cultural artefacts, under the Papua New Guinea National Cultural Property (Preservation) Act of 1965. However this was difficult for the institution to implement for several years, due to inadequate resourcing. [3]
The construction of the purpose-built museum started in 1975, funded in part by the Australian government, and it was opened to the public on 27 June 1977. [4] [5]
Part of the museum was remodelled for its 40th anniversary in 2017. [6] The refurbishment was led by the Australian firm Architectus. [7] The museum officially reopened on 12 October, with a re-naming of the gallery spaces to reflect indigenous Papuan identities - the new names are: Tumbuna, Susan Karike, Bernard Narokobi, Ian Saem Majnep and Be Jijimo. [8] Another key part of the work undertaken was to improve disability access. [8] The work was funded through the Papua New Guinea - Australia partnership alongside staff and the NMAG Board of Trustees. [8] New technology was embedded into the galleries, in particular in a new Second World War display. [8]
The museum and gallery house objects and artworks which reflect Papua New Guinea's rich indigenous cultures and societies. [6] It considers itself a Haus Tumbuna or a place for the ancestors of the people. [9]
The collections include objects relating to music, body adornment, ceremony - in particular kundu and garamut drums, navigation - including richly decorated a Milne Bay outrigger, masks and totem poles. [6] There are over 50,000 ethnographic objects in the museum's collection, but despite its size there are regions and cultures that are not strongly represented. [9]
The museum collaborated with researchers in 2019 to investigate the pottery trade in the Gulf of Papua, concluding that trade between Australia and Papua New Guinea was likely in the preceding two millennia. [10] Staff from the museum have also visited and collaborated with the Smithsonian in order share knowledge of song traditions and ecological knowledge. [11]
In 1974, Prime Minister Michael Somare wrote: “We view our masks and art as living spirits with fixed abodes. It is not right they should be stored in New York, Paris, Bonn or elsewhere.” [12] In preparation for the opening of the new museum building, the then Director, Dirk Smidt, requested the return of items from the William Macgregor Collection, which were accessioned into the Australian Museum at that time. Seventeen objects were returned at the opening of the museum in 1977. [5] In the 1990s, more of the Macgregor material was returned to the museum, this time as part of a partnership with Queensland Museum. [9]
In 2020 the museum received 225 objects from the National Gallery of Australia, as part of an agreed program of repatriation. [13] The objects were returned as part of an ongoing process of return, part of a partnership between the two institutions. [13] The objects mostly dated to the mid-twentieth century and the group is made up of utensils, masks and sculptures, from various provinces including some parts of New Ireland, East and West New Britain, Gulf, Milne Bay and East Sepik. [13]
In part due to legacies of colonialism, many institutions overseas have collections of material culture from Papua New Guinea, including: Hood Museum; [14] Science Museum; [15] the British Museum; [16] Pitt Rivers Museum; [17] Field Museum; [18] Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; [19] the Metropolitan Museum of Art, [20] and others.
In 2006, doubt was raised over the legality of the ownership of several objects in the De Young Museum's Melanesian collection. [12] It was claimed that nine objects were national property and, as such, should be returned to Papua New Guinea. [12]
Port Moresby, 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 outside of Australia and New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the south-western coast of the Papuan Peninsula of the island of New Guinea. The city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II, it was a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas. Due to its population and outsized influence compared to other cities in Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby may be regarded as a primate city.
The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football.
Education in Papua New Guinea is managed through nineteen provinces and two district organisational units. It is tuition-free and attendance is not compulsory.
The culture of Papua New Guinea is complex and multifaceted. It is estimated that more than 7000 different cultural groups exist in Papua New Guinea, and most groups have their own language. Because of this diversity, in which they take pride, many different styles of cultural expression have emerged; each group has created its own expressive forms in art, dance, weaponry, costumes, singing, music, architecture and much more. To unify the nation, the language Tok Pisin, once called Neo-Melanesian has evolved as the lingua franca — the medium through which diverse language groups are able to communicate with one another in Parliament, in the news media, and elsewhere. People typically live in villages or dispersed hamlets which rely on the subsistence farming of yams and taro. The principal livestock in traditional Papua New Guinea is the oceanic pig.
Rugby league is a popular team sport in Papua New Guinea and the country's national sport. Papua New Guineans have a reputation as being some of the world's most passionate rugby league supporters.
Papua New Guinean art refers to visual art created in Papua New Guinea or by Papua New Guinean artists. Papua New Guinea has been inhabited by humans for roughly 50,000 years; throughout that period, the hundreds of distinct ethnic groups of the island developed unique artistics traditions and styles. Statues and figurines, ritual masks, carvings, and weavings, all generally with spiritual and religious significance, comprise a majority of the art created historically in Papua New Guinea. In the late 20th century, a contemporary art movement emerged roughly the same time as the country gained its independence in the 1970s. This movement reflected both the nation's tribal traditions and customs as well as its progression towards modernization.
This page is a list of districts of Papua New Guinea.
Sport in Papua New Guinea is an important part of the national culture. Rugby league is the most popular sport in Papua New Guinea.
Indonesia–Papua New Guinea relations are foreign relations between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, two bordering countries north of Australia.
The Papua New Guinea Hunters are a professional rugby league football club based in Papua New Guinea. They were formed in December 2013 and compete in the Queensland Cup, a second tier competition in Australia. The Hunters are the second Papua New Guinean side to enter the Queensland Cup following the Port Moresby Vipers who competed for two seasons in 1996 and 1997. Every Hunters match is shown live on national free-to-air television. The Hunters' home ground is the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby and their team colours are gold, black and red. The Hunters won the Queensland Cup in 2017.
Lae City FC, formerly known as Lae City Dwellers FC or Toti City FC, is a professional soccer club founded in 2014 and based in Lae, Papua New Guinea. The side currently plays in the Papua New Guinea National Soccer League, the highest level of soccer competition in PNG.
The American Museum of Asmat Art is a gallery exhibiting the art and culture of the Asmat people of southwestern Papua, Indonesia, housed at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Featuring more than 2,200 objects, it is one of the largest of its kind in the United States. Asmat art is widely collected in major Western museums despite the difficulty in visiting the remote region to collect work; the "exceptionally expressive" art "caused a sensation in art-collecting circles" which led to large-scale collecting expeditions in the post-WWII era, according to art scholar and ethnology Dirk A.M. Smidt. The gallery includes a permanent display of Asmat works such as ancestor poles (bis) and canoes, and a rotating exhibition highlighting aspects of Asmat art and culture. Much of the collection is accessible through the museum's online database.
HMPNGS Seeadler (P03) is one of four Pacific Forum patrol vessels operated by the Papua New-Guinea Defence Force.
Soroi Marepo Eoe CMG is a Papua New Guinea politician. He has been a Member of the Papua New Guinea National Parliament since 2017, representing the electorate of Kikori Open. On 7 June 2019, he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and held the position for five months before being replaced, and later returning to the same position on 20 December 2020 serving until 23 August 2022. He was later appointed as Minister for Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs on 24 August 2022 following the formation of the Marape-Rosso Cabinet after the 2022 National General Elections.
Vitiaz United FC was a semi-professional soccer club based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, apparently founded sometime in 2013.
Sarah Haoda Todd is an entrepreneur, fashion designer and activist from Lae, Papua New Guinea.
Margaret Aka is a soccer player and coach from Papua New Guinea. She is the first woman in Papua New Guinea — and the first in the world outside of New Zealand — to receive an Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) B License in coaching. The first woman in Papua New Guinea to coach a male league team, she is also only the third to do so worldwide.
Susan Hareho Karike Huhume was a Papua New Guinean housewife, who, as a schoolgirl, designed the colours of her country's national flag.
Gazellah Bruder is one of Papua New Guinea's most prominent women artists. Her art, largely involving printmaking, focuses on gender, social, and sexual issues that continue to marginalise Papua New Guinean women, as well as on environmental topics. Her work has been exhibited at more than 50 exhibitions.
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