Administration of the Territory of Papua

1. British New Guinea Administration1902–1906
2. Administration of the Territory of Papua1906–1942

Created on 1 September 1906, when the Papua Act 1905 came into force and British New Guinea was formally accepted by the Commonwealth as the Territory of Papua. It continued the existing British New Guinea Administration under a new name and statutory basis.

Legislation: Papua Act 1905

1. 1908Hubert Murray, Acting Administrator from 1907, was appointed Lieutenant-Governor, a post he held until his death in 1940.
2. 14 November 1916Responsibility for Papua passed from the Department of External Affairs to the new Department of Home and Territories.
3. 10 December 1928When the Department of Home and Territories was abolished, the Administrative Arrangements Order of December 1928 gave responsibility for Papua to the Prime Minister's Department.
4. 26 June 1941Responsibility passed from the Territories Branch of the Prime Minister's Department to the new Department of External Territories.

Civil administration was suspended in early 1942 after the Japanese invasion of New Guinea and replaced by military administration (the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit). Civil government resumed in 1945 under the Papua-New Guinea Provisional Administration.

• Government of the Territory of Papua
• Native administration, patrols and village policing
• Land, labour and plantation regulation
• Public health and medical services
• Customs, revenue and territory finances
• Law and order

Last in the portfolio of Department of External Territories.

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Some dates or links for this organisation are not fully confirmed. Corrections are welcome.