AUSTRALIAN NEW GUINEA
See also ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY IN AUSTRALIAN NEW GUINEA 1871 - 1945 ANGLICAN CHURCH IN AUSTRALIAN NEW GUINEA
Until 1942 Australian New Guinea was divided into : - New Guinea - Papua __________________________________________________________________________________NEW GUINEA
GERMAN NEW GUINEA
German New Guinea was the original heartland of the German Protectorate of the same name. It covered : - Kaiser-Wilhelmsland (Northeastern New Guinea) - the Bismarck-Archipel (Bismarck Archipelago) including : - the Admiralitäts-Inseln (Admirality Islands) - Neu Hannover (New Hanover) - Neu Lauenburg (Duke of York Islands) - Neu Mecklemburg (New Ireland) - Neu Pommern (New Britain) - the Northern Salomons-Inseln (Northern Solomon Islands) German permanent presence in the area started in 1875 when Johann Cesar Godeffroy und Sohn established a first post on Neu Lauenburg. In the course of the following years it further increased and in 1884 the whole area - except some of the Northern Solomons (Bougainville and others), which were only added in 1886 - was proclaimed a German protectorate. (For more on this German period see here)
AUSTRALIAN MANDATED TERRITORY OF NEW GUINEA
In 1914 German New Guinea was occupied by Australian forces and for the next seven years it was under Australian military rule. By the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 Germany formally ceded it to the Allies and the same year the Supreme Allied Council assigned New Guinea to Australia as a Mandate (confirmed by the League of Nations as a Mandated C Territory in 1920). __________________________________________________________________________________AUSTRALIAN CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
Commander of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) 1914 Col. William Holmes 1862 - 1917 Administrators Military Administrators 1914 - 1915 Col. William Holmes s.a. 1915 - 1917 Col. Samuel Augustus Pethbridge 1862 - 1918 1917 - 1918 Seaforth Simpson Mackenzie* 1883 - 1955 1918 - 1920 Brig. George Jameson Johnston 1869 - 1949 1920 - 1921 Brig. Thomas Griffiths 1865 - 1947 1921 Brig. Evan Alexander Wisdom 1869 - 1945 Civilian Administrators 1921 - 1933 Brig. Evan Alexander Wisdom s.a. 1933 - 1934 Brig. Thomas Griffiths (2x) 1934 - 1942 MajGen. Sir (1937) Walter Ramsay McNicoll 1877 - 1947 Civilian administration ended when Japanese forces invaded New Guinea (s.b.)
PAPUA
BRITISH DEPENDENCY OF NEW GUINEA
Worried by the already mentioned growing German presence in New Guinea, the British colonies in Australia started claiming the annexation of the eastern part of the island by the UK and in an attempt to force an issue, Queensland even sent an agent to the island in 1883, but the action was not recognized by the British government. It was only after Germany had established a protectorate over the northeastern part (s.a.) that London finally yielded and also proclaimed its protectorate over the southeastern part (1884). In 1888 the area was formally annexed by the UK as British New Guinea, the colonies of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria having however to participate in the financing of the administration until 1898. __________________________________________________________________________________CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
Queensland reoresentative in New Guinea 1883 Lt. Henry Majorbanks Chester, Magistrate of Thursday Island (in charge of Northern Queensland) Special Commissioners 1884 - 1885 MajGen. Sir (1885) Peter Henry Scratchley 1835 - 1885 1885 - 1886 Hugh Hastings Romilly* 1856 - 1892 1886 - 1887 John Douglas 1828 - 1904 1887 - 1888 William MacGregor 1846 - 1919 Administrator 1888 - 1895 Sir William MacGregor s.a. Lieutenant Governors 1895 - 1898 Sir William MacGregor s.a. 1898 - 1902 George Ruthven Le Hunte 1852 - 1925
AUSTRALIAN TERRITORY OF PAPUA
In 1902 the British government formally transferred the area to the Commonwealth of Australia. The Australian government only fully accepted the transfer in 1905 and established the territory of Papua in 1906. __________________________________________________________________________________CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
(sunordinated to the Governors General of Australia 1902 - 1906 and thereafter to the Australian Government) Lieutenant Governor 1902 - 1903 George Ruthven Le Hunte 1852 - 1925 Administrators 1903 - 1904 Christopher Stansfield Robinson* 1871 - 1904 1904 - 1907 Francis Rickman Barton* 1865 - 1947 1907 - 1908 John Hubert Plunkett Murray 1861 - 1940 Lieutenant Governor 1908 - 1940 Sir (1925) John Hubert Plunkett Murray s.a. Administrator 1940 - 1942 Hubert Leonard Murray 1886 - 1963 Civilian administration ended when Japanese forces invaded New Guinea (s.b.)
AUSTRALIAN NEW GUINEA
As a consequence of the Japanese invasion (s.b.) both territories were placed under military rule in feb 1942. Two months later they were merged to form Australian New Guinea, which also remained under military rule until 1945/1946. __________________________________________________________________________________AUSTRALIAN ADMINISTRATORS
(in charge of the non-occupied and liberated areas - subordinated to the Ministry of Defence) Commander of the Australian Forces in Papua and New Guinea and in Australian New Guinea 1942 MajGen. Basil Moorhouse Morris, assumed the powers of administration for both areas after the Japanese landing in New Guinea. 1888 - Military Administrator of Australian New Guinea 1942 - 1946 MajGen. Basil Moorhouse Morris, appointed military administrator after his replacement as commander of the Australian Forces in New Guinea s.a. Heads of the New Guinea Administrative Unit (NGAU) 1942 Capt. George Wilfred Lambert Townsend 1896 - 1942 LtCol. Kenneth Carlyle McMullen 1904 - Head of the Papua Administrative Unit (PAU) 1942 Lt. Sydney Elliott-Smith 1900 - (Both units merged into one unit at the formation of Australian New Guinea) Head(s) of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) 1942 - 194. LtCol Kenneth Carlyle McMullen s.a. ... __________________________________________________________________________________JAPANESE AND US COMMANDERS IN NEW GUINEA 1942 - 1944/1945
After its conquest of Guam the South Seas Detachment moved to the South and started the invasion of New Guinea. The detachment was later joined by other forces and soon the Solomon Islands, the New Guinean Islands and large parts of New Guinea mainland were occupied. But after the failed campaigns in Papua and the ensuing allied counter attacks Japanese power rapidly declined and by the end of 1944 Japanese presence had been reduced to some pockets : Bougainville, Rabaul and the operation area of the 18th Army. JAPANESE COMMANDERS (all subordinated to the Japanese High Command) (note : in Japanese names the family name is given first) Commander of the South Seas Detachment (also subordinated to the Commanders-in-Chief of the 4th Fleet) 1942 - 1942 LtGen. Horii Tomitaro, died during the campaign in Papua 1890 - 1942 Commander of the 17th Army 1942 LtGen. Hyakatuke Seikichi 1888 - 1947 Commander of the 8th Area Army 1942 - 1945 Gen. Imamura Hitoshi, in direct charge of the New Guinean islands, surrendered Rabaul on Sep 06 1945 1886 - 1968 Commander of the 17th Army (in charge of the Solomon Islands) 1942 - 1945 LtGen. Hyakatuke Seikichi s.a. 1945 LtGen. Kanda Masatane, surrendered Bougainville on Sep 08 1945 Commander of the 18th Army (in charge of mainland New Guinea) 1942 - 1945 LtGen. Adachi Hatazo (1) 1890 - 1947 (1) By 1944 the 18th Army - now transferred to the Southern Area Army - had been virtually encircled by US troops and severed from all support by other Japanese forces. Adachi nevertheless continued his isolated struggle until Sep 13 1945. US COMMANDERS Initially the US troops operating in Australian New Guinea were subordinated to the Australian High Command. But in 1943 the US assumed full responsability for the area and an independent Army Commnand - part of the Southwest Pacific Area - was established. (2) Commander of the US Sixth Army 1943 - 1944 LtGen. Walter Krueger 1881 - 1967 Commander of the US Eight Army 1944 LtGen. Robert Lawrence Eichelberger 1886 - 1961 By the end of 1944 most Japanese forces had been defeated and the US troops moved to the Philippines, leaving the Australian army in charge of the liquidation of the last Japanese resistance (s.a.) (2) Excluded from its zone of activities were the Solomons, whose conquest was entrusted to troops of the South Pacific Area, a subdivision of the Pacific Ocean Area. (See here for more on the US Command structure in the Pacific War Zone) The US forces were only concerned with military operations and transferred the civil administration of the liberated areas to ANGAU (s.a.)
ANGLICAN CHURCH IN AUSTRALIAN NEW GUINEA
Anglican mission work in British New Guinea - since 1902 the Australian territory of Papua - started in 1891. In 1898 the area was organized as the Diocese of New Guinea, which became part of the Auustralian church province of Queensland in 1905. (1) (1) The mandated area remained - formally at least - outside its jurisdiction until after WWII. __________________________________________________________________________________HEADS OF THE COMMUNITY
Bishops 1898 - 1908 Montagu John Stone-Wigg 1861 - 1918 1910 - 1921 Gerald Sharp 1865 - 1933 1922 - 1936 Henry Newton 1936 - 1963 Philip Nigel Warrington Strong 1899 - 1983
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