Sir Paulias Matane, Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, was the Viceroy | viceregal representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Monarchy of Papua New Guinea | Queen of Papua New Guinea

The Transmigration program ( Transmigrasi ) was a National Government initiative to move landless people from densely populated areas of Indonesia ( such as Java and Bali ) to less populous areas of the country including Papua, Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Sulawesi.

Papua New Guinea was the first country in the world to grant commercial exploration licenses for seafloor massive sulphide deposits when it granted the initial license to Nautilus Minerals in 1997.

The southern half was colonised in the same year by the United Kingdom as British New Guinea, but in 1904 with the passage of the Papua Act, 1905 was transferred to the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia who took on its administration.

Additionally from 1905, British New Guinea was renamed the Territory of Papua.

Papua, by contrast, was deemed to be an External Territory of the Australian Commonwealth, though as a matter of law it remained a British possession.

The two territories were combined into the Territory of Papua and New Guinea after World War II, which later was simply referred to as " Papua New Guinea ".

Papua New Guinea was admitted to membership in the United Nations on 10 October 1975.

The initial spark was a fight between Chinese and Papua New Guinean workers at a nickel factory under construction by a Chinese company.

In foreign policy, Papua New Guinea was accorded Observer status within ASEAN in 1976 followed later by Special Observer status in 1981.

During the Pacific War, Papua was governed by an Australian military administration from Port Moresby, where General Douglas MacArthur occasionally made his headquarters.

Australian troops at Milne Bay, Papua. The Australian garrison was the first to inflict defeat on the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II at the Battle of Milne Bay of Aug – Sep 1942.

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 was protected to a large extent by its southern location and the near-impassable Owen Stanley Ranges to the north.

It is currently Indonesia's two easternmost provinces, Papua and West Papua ( administered under a unified government prior to 2003 under the name Irian Jaya ).

In 1945, the Territory of Papua and New Guinea was formed when Papua and the former German New Guinea, which had been administered by Australia since 1918, were amalgamated under a single Australian administration.

Except for the United Kingdom itself and Papua New Guinea ( which, before independence, had been administered as two separate territories by Australia ), the Commonwealth realms are former British colonies.

The Territory of Papua, officially a British colony but administered by Australia, issued its own stamps from 1901. before this, it had used Queensland stamps.

* former German New Guinea became the Territory of New Guinea ( Australia / United Kingdom ) from 17 December 1920 under a ( at first Military ) Administrator ; after ( wartime ) Japanese / U. S. military commands from 8 December 1946 under UN mandate as North East New Guinea ( under Australia, as administrative unit ), until it became part of present Papua New Guinea at independence in 1975

Following the surrender of the Japanese in 1945, civil administration of Papua as well as New Guinea was restored, and under the Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act, ( 1945 – 46 ), Papua and New Guinea were combined in an administrative union.

The Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 formally approved the placing of New Guinea under the international trusteeship system and confirmed the administrative union under the title of The Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

On 26 January 2012, military personnel under the command of the retired officer Colonel Yaura Sasa arrested the commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, Brigadier General Francis Agwi.

* September 5 – WWII: The 503rd Parachute Regiment under American General Douglas MacArthur lands and occupies Nadzab, just east of the port city of Lae in northeastern Papua New Guinea.

Between 1989 and 1991 ASIS came under scrutiny following allegations relating to its role and activities in Papua New Guinea.

Fishing boats of other nations catch tuna in Papua New Guinea waters under license.

Canadian scholar Richard Toporoski theorised in 1998 that " if, let us say, an alteration were to be made in the United Kingdom to the Act of Settlement 1701, providing for the succession of the Crown ... t is my opinion that the domestic constitutional law of Australia or Papua New Guinea, for example, would provide for the succession in those countries of the same person who became Sovereign of the United Kingdom.

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.

This Act of Free Choice has been strongly criticised by the international community, including the group International Parliamentarians for West Papua, which has termed the act " the act of no choice ".

With the passage of the Papua Act of 1905, the area was officially renamed the Territory of Papua, and Australian administration became formal in 1906.

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.

In 1969 Lunn reported on the Act of Free Choice in West Papua while Reuters Correspondent in Indonesia.

Over the decade that followed, the Maruia Society played a major role in the development of, and later review of, the Resource Management Act 1991, developed a programme of conservation work in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, and played a significant role in the development of the government ’ s policies on climate change, forestry, energy, transport and overseas development assistance.

The New York Agreement specified that all men and women in Papua that were not foreign nationals had the right to vote in the Act.

The Church is incorporated by a 1991 Act of the Parliament of Papua New Guinea and it has a baptized membership of approximately 900, 000 members.

The University of Papua New Guinea Act No. 18, 1983 bill repealing the old Ordinance was passed by the National Parliament in August 1983.

Until July 2007, under the High Court Act, foreign judges appointed to the High Court had to be nationals of one of the following countries: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Tonga, or the United Kingdom.

The difference in legal status meant that up until 1949, Papua and New Guinea had entirely separate administrations, both controlled by Australia.

Korowai people of Papua ( province ) | Papua numbered just around 3, 000 people, and was uncontacted people | uncontacted until 1970s.

* Papua New Guinea ( until 2002 )

They remained under Australian administration — interrupted only by Japanese occupation during World War II — until Papua New Guinea became independent in 1975.

In many societies of Melanesia, especially in Papua New Guinea, same-sex relationships were an integral part of the culture until the middle of the last century.

It became the Territory of New Guinea, a League of Nations Mandate Territory under Australian administration until 1949 ( interrupted by Japanese occupation during the New Guinea campaign ) when it was merged with the Australian territory of Papua to become the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, which eventually became modern Papua New Guinea.

Missionary activity did not begin until 1877, and New Ireland was colonised by Germany in 1886 under the name Neu-Mecklenburg, as part of the German partition comprising the northern half of present-day Papua New Guinea.

Australian colonial administration continued until Papua New Guinea became independent in September 1975.

This is consistent with the mainstream view, supported by population genetics and archaeology, that Papua New Guinea and Australia, as well as some of the islands neighboring Papua New Guinea, were first inhabited by hominins ( humans or otherwise ) at least 40, 000 years ago in migrations that were either separate or swiftly segregated, and that many of these populations have had only limited contact with outside populations until the modern era.

United, the new Territory of Papua and New Guinea received its own stamps from Australia until its independence in 1975.

Supporters routinely display the Morning Star flag and other symbols of Papuan unity, such as the national anthem " Hai Tanahku Papua " and a national coat of arms, which had been adopted in the period 1961 until Indonesian administration began in May 1963 under the New York Agreement.

Sir John Kaputin ( born 11 July 1941 ) was the foreign minister of Papua New Guinea from 1992 until 1994 and from December 1999 until 2000.

It was inhabited until 2004, but it is now abandoned and its residents resettled elsewhere in Papua New Guinea.