Additional information for Chapter 2 New Guinea calls.

 

Papua New Guinea is the world's third largest island country with a size of 462,840 square kilometres or 178,700 square miles. Its current population is at least 9m to 11m, some say even higher. In addition, West Papua has a size of 415,170 square kilometres or 160,298 square miles, and its current population is 5.4m.

 

The country's current dual name Papua New Guinea (Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini; Hiri Motu: Papua Niu Gini) officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, results from a complex administrative history before independence.

 

A brief summary of the political history sourced from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea follows :

 

Germany ruled the northern half of the country for decades from 1884 as a colony named German New Guinea. In 1914 during World War I, Australian forces captured German New Guinea and occupied it throughout the war. After the war, in which Germany was defeated, the League of Nations authorised Australia to administer this area as a League of Nations Mandate Territory that became the Territory of New Guinea.

 

The southern half of the country had been colonised in 1884 by the United Kingdom as British New Guinea. The UK transferred this Territory to the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia with the Papua Act 1905, Australia took on its administration, and British New Guinea was renamed the Territory of Papua. The League of Nations determined that Papua was an external Territory of the Australian Commonwealth but as a matter of law it remained a British possession.

 

“The difference in legal status between the two meant that until 1949, Papua and New Guinea had entirely separate administrations, both controlled by Australia. These conditions contributed to the complexity of organising the country's post-independence legal system.

 

After World War II and the victory of the Allies, the two territories were combined into the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

 

 

The western portion of the island of New Guinea , West Papua, has been controlled by Indonesia since 1962, and before that it was under the control of the Netherlands. Historically, the region has had the official names of Netherlands New Guinea (1895–1962), West New Guinea or West Irian (1962–1973), Irian Jaya (1973–2002), and Papua (2002–present).“

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above map was sourced from Wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea.

It is a political map of the island of New Guinea from 1884-1919. Flags, from left to right, are those of the Netherlands, German Empire, and United Kingdom.

 

Archaeological evidence indicates that humans first arrived in Papua New Guinea around 42,000 to 60,000 years ago. They were believed to be descendants of migrants out of Africa.

 

The book “New Guinea” by John Keith McCarthy, states the first reference to the word “Papua” was a map discovered in 1884 which was based on the voyage of the Portuguese explorer Antonio d’Abreu in 1511 which showed a land marked ‘Ilha de Papoia’. The first white man to land on New Guinea’s shores was probably the Portuguese explorer Dom Jorge de Menezes in 1526.

 

The word "New Guinea" (Nueva Guinea) was the name coined by the Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retes. In 1545 he noted the resemblance of the people to those he had earlier seen along the Guinea coast of Africa.

 

 

The place where the city of Port Moresby was founded has been inhabited by the Motu-Koitabu people for centuries. The Motuan people traded their pots for sago, other food and canoe logs, sailing from Hanuabada and other villages. The Hiri expeditions were large scale. As many as 20 multi-hulled canoes or lakatoi, crewed by some 600 men, carried about 20,000 clay pots on each journey.

 

The first Briton to see the country was Royal Navy Captain John Moresby on the 20 February, 1873 of the HMS Basilisk. He claimed the land for Britain and named it after his father, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Fairfax Moresby. He called the inner reach "Fairfax Harbour" and the other outer Port Moresby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photo above show the British flag being raised by Queensland. The photo above was sourced online from commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_flag_raised_on_new_guinea_annexed_by_queensland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photo above of the Reading the proclamation of annexation at Reverend Lawe's house, Port Moresby, New Guinea, November 1884 - photographer John Paine or Augustine E. Dyer (5708761723) Mitchell Library State Library of New South Wales, SPF/2752and was sourced online 27 June 2022 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea#/media/File:Reading_the_proclamation_of_annexation,_Mr_Lawe's_house,_Port_Moresby,_New_Guinea,_November_18

 

 

Refer Addendum 10 for further information about the location of Dr Lawe’s house near Hanuabada.