History of Papua New Guinea - Territory of Papua

Territory of Papua

In 1883, the Colony of Queensland purported to annex the southern half of eastern New Guinea. On 6 November 1884, a British protectorate was proclaimed over the southern coast of New Guinea and its adjacent islands. The protectorate, called British New Guinea, was annexed outright on 4 September 1888. The possession was placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1902. Following the passage of the Papua Act, 1905, British New Guinea became the Territory of Papua, and formal Australian administration began in 1906, although Papua remained de jure a British possession until the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975. Papua was administered under the Papua Act until it was invaded by the Empire of Japan in 1941, and civil administration suspended. During the Pacific War, Papua was governed by an Australian military administration from Port Moresby, where General Douglas MacArthur occasionally made his headquarters.