The Australian Naval & Military Expedition Force (AN&MEF) raising the Australian flag at Rabaul, 1914

1883: HM Chester, Queensland Government Agent on Thursday Island, raised the Union Jack near present-day Port Moresby and annexed, on behalf of Queen Victoria, that part of New Guinea and adjacent islands lying between meridians 141E and 155E longitude.

1884: Britain proclaimed a protectorate over south-east New Guinea. Germany claimed Kaiser Wilhelmsland, the north-east part of the country and allowed its administration by the Neu Guinea Kompagnie.

1888: The British assumed sovereignty over the protectorate of British New Guinea.

1899: The German Government resumed responsibility for the administration of German New Guinea from the Neu Guinea Kompagnie.

1902: British New Guinea was transferred to the newly federated Commonwealth of Australia on 18 March 1902.

1906: The Papua Act of the Commonwealth Parliament transferred control of BNG to Australia and renamed it the Territory of Papua.

1907: Australian Sir Hubert Murray appointed Acting Administrator of Papua, and then served as Lieutenant-Governor until his death in 1940.

Japanese officers handing their swords to an Australian officer at the surrender in Wewak in 1945

1914: Australian Forces invaded, occupied and administered German New Guinea at the commencement of World War I. The first Australian ‘killed-in-action’ in WWI resulted.

1920: The League of Nations conferred a mandate on Australia for the former German New Guinea. The two territories, the Mandate and Papua, were administered separately, both being responsible to the Australian Government, until 1942.

1942: The Japanese invaded New Guinea, landing at Rabaul. Administration of Australian-held territory was transferred to the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU).

1945: The Japanese surrendered off the cost of Rabaul on 6 September 1945 on board HMS Glory. The final surrenders in New Guinea were on 13 September 1945 at Cape Wom and Wewak airstrips.

1945–46: The Papua-New Guinea Provisional Administration Act was passed by the Australian Parliament in July 1945. The Act established a single administration for the former territories, to be known as the Territory of Papua-New Guinea.

1946: Civil administration restored to Papua-New Guinea. The General Assembly of the United Nations approved a trusteeship agreement for New Guinea and its administration by Australia.

1949: The Papua and New Guinea Act formalised the provisional administration for the two territories and provided for a Legislative Council.

1961: A twenty-eight-member Legislative Council, set up in 1951 by the Australian government was reconstituted to allow for the inclusion of six elected indigenous members and six nominated indigenous members.

1964: Legislative Council was replaced by an elected House of Assembly.

Australian Prime Minister,
Gough Whitlam at the Independence Day
celebrations, 1975

1972: Michael Somare elected as Chief Minister. The territory’s name was changed to Papua New Guinea.

1973: As Chief Minister, Somare led the country to self-government. Papua New Guinea became self-governing on 1 December 1973.

1975: Papua New Guinea became independent on 16 September, at a ceremony in Port Moresby at which Australia’s flag was lowered and PNG’s flag raised. The proud new nation became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and was admitted as a Member of the United Nations Organisation.

Officiating at the main ceremony were His Royal Highness Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (representing Queen Elizabeth II, the British monarch); Sir John Kerr, Governor-General of Australia; Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam; Sir John Guise, Governor-General Designate of Papua New Guinea and Michael Somare, who became the country’s first Prime Minister.

At one minute past midnight on 16 September 1975, the Proclamation of Independence was issued.