37-518: The Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) was a civil administration of Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea formed on 21 March 1942 during World War II . The civil administration of both Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea were replaced by an Australian Army military government and came under the control of ANGAU from February 1942 until
74-648: A Legislative Council (which was established in 1951), a judicial system, a public service, and a system of local government. Under Australian Minister for External Territories Andrew Peacock , the territory adopted self-government in 1972 and on 15 September 1975, during the term of the Whitlam government in Australia, the Territory became the independent nation of Papua New Guinea . Thomas McIlwraith Sir Thomas McIlwraith KCMG (17 May 1835 – 17 July 1900)
111-532: A postal service through the Torres Strait Islands . In 1882 he was knighted . The Australian colonies were extremely anxious about German colonial activities in the region, it became clear that the German government was planning to annex eastern New Guinea , to Queensland's north. McIlwraith took the extraordinary step of attempting to annex New Guinea for Queensland; he employed Henry Chester to proclaim
148-528: A first step in the federation movement , and more quickly resulted in the establishment in 1884 of the Federal Council of Australasia . Orders were eventually given to establish British New Guinea as a protectorate on the southern coast of the eastern coast of New Guinea on 6 November 1884. However, a well-informed German Navy had secretly landed, annexing the northern coast under the name ‘ Kaiser-Wilhelmsland ’ three days earlier. News about German New Guinea
185-462: A system of land grants was attacked for corruption in allocation of grants. McIlwraith lost office to his rival, Samuel Griffith , in November and retired from politics in 1886. McIlwraith returned to stand for Parliament in 1888, this time as member for North Brisbane . His "National Australia Party" won a majority in the elections and he again became Premier and Treasurer. He came into conflict with
222-640: The American and Australian military . After the end of World War II, ANGAU was abolished and was replaced under the Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act (1945–46) by the combined government of Papua and Australian New Guinea. Territory of Papua The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for
259-533: The Premier of Queensland , ordered Henry Chester (1832–1914), the police magistrate on Thursday Island , to proceed to Port Moresby and annex the eastern half of New Guinea. The reason given for annexation was the apparent German interest in annexing the area, evidenced by an article in the Allgemeine Zeitung . Chester made the proclamation on 4 April 1883, but the imperial British government disapproved of
296-558: The Territory of New Guinea . Shortly after the start of the Pacific War , the island of New Guinea was invaded by the Japanese . Papua was the least affected region. Most of West Papua , at that time known as Dutch New Guinea , was occupied, as were large parts of the Territory of New Guinea (the former German New Guinea , which was also under Australian rule after World War I ), but Papua
333-890: The University of Glasgow . McIlwraith's brother John's success in Melbourne persuaded him, in 1854, to migrate to Victoria where he worked as a surveyor and engineer for the Department of Railways, and subsequently as a partner with Messrs Cornish and Bruce , railway contractors. He also invested in eight pastoral holdings in the Maranoa district in Queensland . He retained close relations with his brother John, and on 6 June 1863 married Margaret Whannell, sister of John's wife. They had three daughters, Jessie (b. 1866), Mary (b. 1868) and Blanche (b. 1872). He eventually moved to Queensland, but Margaret
370-667: The colony of German New Guinea , then known as Kaiser-Wilhelmsland . At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Australia invaded Kaiser-Wilhelmsland on 11 September 1914 with 2000 volunteers of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force . After several skirmishes, the Australians succeeded in capturing the German colony, which they occupied for the rest of the war. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 transferred German New Guinea to Australia, which administered it as
407-509: The British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the annexation but in 1884 a protectorate was proclaimed over the territory, then called British New Guinea . There is a certain ambiguity about the exact date on which the entire territory was annexed by the British. The Papua Act 1905 recites that this happened "on or about" 4 September 1888. On 18 March 1902, the Territory
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#1732851334954444-469: The British parts of Papua were effectively transferred to the authority of the new Commonwealth of Australia . With the passage of the Papua Act 1905, the area was officially renamed the Territory of Papua, and Australian administration formally began in 1906. Meanwhile, the northern part of New Guinea was under German commercial control from 1884, and from 1899 was directly ruled by the German government as
481-456: The London directors of McIlwraith's Queensland Investment and Land Mortgage Co. had complained about the practices of the local board, and in 1892 they charged McIlwraith, Palmer and two others with fraud. The remaining years of his life were surrounded in financial scandal and large financial losses by institutions that he was involved with. Although McIlwraith left for England on 15 January 1895, he
518-599: The Queen's sovereignty which occurred on 4 April 1883. This was later disallowed by the British Secretary of State for the Colonies , Lord Derby on the basis that a colonial government had no authority to annex other colonies. Indignation at this apparent slight to colonial prerogatives incited the gathering of an Intercolonial Convention in November and December 1883, with federation and annexation on its agenda. This proved to be
555-733: The Second Australian Imperial Force, returning from action in the Mediterranean Theatre . In early September 1942 Japanese marines attacked a strategic Royal Australian Air Force base at Milne Bay , near the eastern tip of Papua. They were beaten back by the Australian Army, and the Battle of Milne Bay was the first outright defeat of Japanese land forces during World War II. The offensives in Papua and New Guinea of 1943–44 were
592-685: The Victorian Legislative Assembly but won few votes as a free trader. McIlwraith was elected to the Legislative Assembly in the seat of Maranoa in 1868. He joined the ministry of Arthur Macalister in January 1874 becoming Secretary for Public Works and Mines. He resigned from these posts in October of that year. The government of John Douglas was defeated in 1879 after a series of severe droughts and McIlwraith became premier for
629-678: The annexation: the British Colonial Secretary Lord Derby emphasised in a despatch to the Queensland government that such an action was beyond Queensland's constitutional powers as a British colony. On 6 November 1884, after the Australian colonies had promised financial support, the territory became a British protectorate . On 4 September 1888 the protectorate was annexed by Britain, together with some adjacent islands, which were collectively named British New Guinea. In 1902,
666-524: The capital of the Territory, was overwhelmed on 22–23 January and was established as a major Japanese base from where the Japanese landed on mainland New Guinea and advanced towards Port Moresby and Australia. Having had their initial effort to capture Port Moresby by a seaborne invasion disrupted by the U.S. Navy and Australian navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea , the Japanese attempted a landward attack from
703-404: The colony's Governor, Sir Anthony Musgrave over the exercise of the royal pardon . Musgrave died in October and McIlwraith petitioned the new Colonial Secretary Lord Knutsford , to allow the Queensland government to be consulted on the choice of governor. Knutsford refused and appointed Sir Harry Blake . The local legislature problematically declined to ratify the appointment, but henceforth it
740-591: The early part of the 16th century and in 1526–27, Don Jorge de Meneses came upon the principal island, which the locals called "Papua". In 1545, the Spaniard Íñigo Ortiz de Retez gave the island the name "New Guinea", because he saw a resemblance between the islands' inhabitants and those found on the African region of Guinea . European knowledge of the interior of the island remained scant for several centuries after these initial encounters. In 1883 Sir Thomas McIlwraith ,
777-530: The end of World War II. Civil officers from both Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea were posted to ANGAU based in Port Moresby . ANGAU undertook civil tasks of maintaining law and medical services in areas not occupied by the Imperial Japanese and was responsible to New Guinea Force . The major responsibility of the unit was to organize the resources of land and labour for the war effort. ANGAU
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#1732851334954814-451: The first time. He quickly worked to ameliorate the colony's finances and with the assistance of a return of agricultural prosperity he turned the budget deficit into a surplus . Queensland at this stage was seeing increasing numbers of immigrants and McIlwraith oversaw the colony's economic development. The McIlwraith government introduced the divisional system of local government to the larger part of Queensland and assisted in establishing
851-469: The government of Sir Samuel Griffith . In March 1893 Griffith stepped down to join the Supreme Court of Queensland and McIlwraith became Premier again. His health was still poor and in October he resigned in favour of Hugh Nelson , contenting himself with the cabinet position of Chief Secretary and secretary for railways until 29 March 1895. The Dictionary of Australian of Biography says: Since 1888
888-510: The largely Australian force and the Japanese 18th Army based in New Guinea until the Japanese surrender in 1945. After the war, the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 united the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea as the Territory of Papua and New Guinea . However, for the purposes of Australian nationality a distinction was maintained between the two territories. The act provided for
925-471: The north via the Kokoda Track . From July 1942, a few Australian reserve battalions, many of them very young and untrained, fought a stubborn rearguard action against the Japanese attack, over the rugged Owen Stanley Ranges . The militia, worn out and severely depleted by casualties, held out with the assistance of Papuan porters and medical assistants, and were relieved in late August by regular troops from
962-543: The single largest series of connected operations ever mounted by the Australian armed forces. The Supreme Commander of operations was the United States General Douglas Macarthur , with Australian General Thomas Blamey taking a direct role in planning, and operations being essentially directed by staff at New Guinea Force headquarters in Port Moresby. Bitter fighting continued in New Guinea between
999-473: The southern half of what is today Papua New Guinea and contained the territory's capital, Port Moresby , which then became the capital of the independent country. Archeological evidence suggests that humans arrived on New Guinea at least 60,000 years ago. These Melanesian people developed stone tools and agriculture. Portuguese and Spanish navigators sailing in the South Pacific entered New Guinea waters in
1036-525: Was also responsible for recruiting, organising and supervising local labour for the Australian and American armed forces in New Guinea included rehabilitation of the local inhabitants in reoccupied areas. It was also responsible for the administration of the Pacific Islands Regiment . The ANGAU officers and their New Guinean carriers, labourers, scouts, guides and police were highly regarded by
1073-820: Was for many years the dominant figure of colonial politics in Queensland . He was Premier of Queensland from 1879 to 1883, again in 1888, and for a third time in 1893. In common with most politicians of his era, McIlwraith was an influential businessman, who combined his parliamentary career with a prosperous involvement in the pastoral industry . Thomas McIlwraith was born in Ayr , Scotland , in 1835, one of four sons of John McIlwraith, plumber and shipowner, and his wife Janet Hamilton née Howat. His eldest brother, John (1828–1902), migrated to Victoria , Australia , in 1853; his youngest brother, Andrew (1844–1932), co-founded McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co in London with Malcolm McEacharn . McIlwraith studied civil engineering at
1110-537: Was part of an administrative union, the Territory of Papua at all times retained a distinct legal status and identity; it was a Possession of the Crown whereas the Territory of New Guinea was initially a League of Nations mandate territory and subsequently a United Nations trust territory . This legal and political distinction remained until the advent of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea in 1975. Papua made up
1147-565: Was placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia. Resolutions of acceptance were passed by the Commonwealth Parliament, which accepted the territory under the name of Papua. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of New Guinea were established in an administrative union by the name of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea . That administrative union was renamed as Papua New Guinea in 1971. Notwithstanding that it
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1184-401: Was protected to a large extent by its southern location and the near-impassable Owen Stanley Ranges to the north. Civil administration was suspended during the war and both territories (Papua and New Guinea) were placed under martial law for the duration. The New Guinea campaign opened with the battles for New Britain and New Ireland in the Territory of New Guinea in 1942. Rabaul ,
1221-645: Was reluctant to live in isolated Merivale station. In 1871 she visited Merivale, but soon returned to Melbourne for Blanche's birth. In 1874 they decided to live in Brisbane. Thomas found that she was drinking heavily, and sent her to Scotland where she died in 1877. McIlwraith fathered an illegitimate daughter in Victoria. In 1877 McIlwraith was a founding partner of the North Australian Pastoral Company . In 1879 he married Harriette Ann née Mosman. Harriette
1258-595: Was still a minister of the Queensland cabinet until 25 November 1897 when the Labor Party with government support succeeded in passing a resolution that he should retire. On 9 December he resigned from the Executive Council. McIlwraith's aspirations for political integration of the Australian colonies centred on the Federal Council of Australasia, and he actively sought the entry of New South Wales into this body. In
1295-476: Was successfully kept a secret until it finally broke on 22 December that year. The following day an irate McIlwraith told the Queensland parliament that British conduct in this affair constituted "the grossest piece of treachery on the part of the English government to the colonies that has ever been perpetrated". In 1883 a government proposal to raise funds for the construction of a transcontinental railway line by
1332-577: Was the sister of Hugh Mosman , who discovered gold in Charters Towers , and Cecilia Mosman, wife of his political colleague Arthur Palmer (also Premier of Queensland ); she gave birth to his fourth legitimate daughter in 1881. While working for J V A Bruce, he represented his employers in a dispute with the Victorian government, and attracted public attention. In 1864 he contested the Sandhurst seat in
1369-483: Was understood that the colonies would be consulted in vice-regal appoinyments. In November of that year ill-health forced McIlwraith to resign in favour of Boyd Dunlop Morehead , whereupon he travelled to China and Japan. After his return McIlwraith's relationship with his colleagues deteriorated, and in August 1890 he formed an alliance (later known as the " Continuous Ministry ") with his erstwhile foe to become Treasurer in
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