Skip to content
Mogged
Territories & national capitalRoyal commission

Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Present Conditions, Including the Method of Government, of the Territory of Papua, and the Best Means of Their Improvement

British New Guinea—Royal Commission of inquiry into the present conditions, including the method of government, of the Territory of Papua, and the best means of their improvement · Papua Royal Commission · British New Guinea—Royal Commission of inquiry into the present conditions, including the method of government, of the Territory of Papua, and the best means for their improvement

27 August 1906 – 20 February 1907

Inquired into the administration of British New Guinea as it became the Australian Territory of Papua, after complaints of inefficiency and feuding among its officials.

How it came into existence

Appointed by the Deakin government by Letters Patent dated 27 August 1906, through the intervention of Atlee Hunt, secretary of the Department of External Affairs. The commissioners were Colonel J. A. K. Mackay (chairman), C. E. Herbert, Government Resident of the Northern Territory, and W. E. Parry-Okeden, former Queensland commissioner of police. It reached Port Moresby soon after the Papua Act 1905 came into force in September 1906 and travelled widely in the territory.

How it ended

Its report was presented on 20 February 1907, and the commission then ended. Its criticism of the administration led to the removal of many senior officials, including the administrator F. R. Barton, and to the appointment of Hubert Murray as acting administrator in 1907 and lieutenant-governor in 1908. It also endorsed encouraging European settlement and native industry.

Main functions

  • Method of government of Papua
  • Conduct and efficiency of the territory’s officials
  • Land, settlement and native policy

Where it sits

Last in the portfolio of Department of External Affairs.

Lineage

Loading lineage…

Sources