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Historical Flags (Papua New Guinea)

Introduction
Protectorate of the German New Guinea Company 1884-1899 (Schutzgebiet der Neu-Guinea-Kompagnie)
Protectorate of German New Guinea 1899-1921 (Schutzgebiet Deutsch Neu-Guinea)
Territory of Papua 1906-1949 (Australian External Territory)
Territory of Papua and New Guinea 1949-1965
Australian Trust Territory of Papua and New Guinea 1965-1970
Australian Trust Territory of Papua and New Guinea 1970-1971

See also:

Introduction

Papua New Guinea is made up of two former colonial territories:

The UN Trust Territory of New Guinea, consisting of the northeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea. This was formerly the German colony of Schutzgebiet Kaiser-Wilhelmsland und Bismarck-archipel, later called Schutzgebiet Deutsch Neu-Guinea (1884-1921) and thereafter the Society of Nations' Mandated Territory of New Guinea.
The Australian External Territory of Papua, consisting of the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea.

Both territories were jointly administered by Australia since 1949, became a self-governing state on December 1st 1973 and independent on September 16th 1975. The western half of the island of New Guinea constitutes the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981.

Santiago Dotor, 5 January 1999

The Territory of Papua was acquired by Queensland (against the express wishes of Whitehall) in 1884 following a scare that the Germans would be on our doorstep. Germany took the Territory of New Guinea the same year, headquartered in Rabaul. During this period the British exchanged Bougainville and Buka Islands (part of the Solomons) for some other German territory.

During World War One Australian troops captured New Guinea (the North-East quarter) and administered it under German law until 1921, when the League of Nations mandated it to Australia. Papua and New Guinea were administered separately until World War Two when the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) amalgamated the two Territories under military law. After the war the United Nations made New Guinea an Australian Protectorate, and both came under a common administration, until independence in 1972/3. A good book on the history is John Reid, The