Research Guides: HIST 296: Post-War Pacific: New Guinea

Introduction

The island of New Guinea is the second largest island in the world after Greenland. it is divided along a north-south line between the Indonesian province of West Papua and the independent nation of Papua New Guinea, which also includes the islands of New Britain, New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands, Bougainville and Buka, among others. The island's colonial history dates back to 1884, when Germany took possession of the northeast corner of the island, and the British established a "protectorate" over the Southern coast and adjacent islands. The western half of the island, presently known as West Papua, has its own colonial history: in 1660 it was first "claimed" for Spain by the Portuguese navigator Luís Vaz de Torres; in 1824, Britain and the Netherlands deemed that this western half of the island would become part of the Dutch East Indies. Following World War II, the western half was annexed by Indonesia, and remains under its control.

Papua New Guinea became an independent nation in 1975. In 2019, a non-binding independence referendum was held in Bougainville, with 98 percent of the population voting for independence. Regional authorities intend to become independent between 2025 and 2027, assuming ratification by the Papua New Guinean government. West Papua has an ongoing independence movement.

Government documents

Agreement between Government of Australia (acting on its own behalf and on behalf of the Government of Papua New Guinea) and the Government of Indonesia concerning administrative border arrangements as to the border between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, by Government of Australia
Call Number: DU744 .A877
ISBN: 9780642012333
Publication Date: 1975
IN SUPPORT OF WEST PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S QUEST FOR FREEDOM. Congressional Record Daily Edition Creator U.S. Congress by U.S. Congress
Publication Date: 2005
Testimony on the House floor by Representative Eni F. H. Faleomavaega of American Samoa.

Posters and Ephemera

"Ephemera" refers to materials that were not necessarily meant to last -- posters, pamphlets, flyers. These were often freely distributed, and tied to specific events. In the historical realm, they document not only those specific moments, but also larger movements. For instance, the poster pictured above was created at the time of Papua New Guinea's independence. Not only does it celebrate that moment, but it documents the a newly formed nation working to create its own national identity where none had previously existed.

[Papua New Guinea Independence Day, September 16, 1975 : collection of materials] by Government Printer
Call Number: DU740.8 .P354
Publication Date: 1975
This small collection of ephemera documents Independence Day, 1975.

Selected films (West Papua and Papua New Guinea)

Yumi Yet by O'Rourke, Dennis (director and producer)
Publication Date: 1976
"After 100 years of colonial rule, Papua New Guinea achieved sovereignty and celebrated its very first independence day in 1975. As a group of disparate native peoples, speaking different dialects and living on different islands were poised to unite and prepare for their first democratic election, legendary documentarist Dennis O'Rourke captured both the people and the atmosphere on the brink of this momentous day." (Quoted from film promotional materials.)
West Papua by Faure, Damien
Publication Date: 2003
"Meeting with the rebels from the Free West Papua Movement who have taken refuge along the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, this film sheds light on a colonization effort that the international community prefers to ignore in West Papua." (Quoted from film promotional materials.)
Cannibal Tours by O'Rourke, Dennis (director and producer)
Publication Date: 1988
"Cannibal Tours explores the phenomenon of the growing tourism industry in Papua New Guinea, and in the process turns the ethnographic lens on Western mass-market culture with disturbingly perceptive insight and candor." (Quoted from film promotional materials.)

Academic Writings (books, book chapters and journal articles)

Law and Order in a Weak State by Sinclair Dinnen
Call Number: HV9960.P26 D56 2001
ISBN: 9780824822804
Publication Date: 2000
Twenty-five years after independence, Papua New Guinea is beset by social, economic, and political problems.
"Defining Citizenship for a New Nation: Papua New Guinea, 1972-1974" by Ritchie, Jonathan
Call Number: DU1 .J68
Publication Date: June 2013
The Journal of Pacific history, 2013-06, Vol.48 (2), p.144-161. Available in print or electronic formats.
" Development and Decolonisation: the 1964 UN Conference on Trade and Development and the Independence of Papua New Guinea" by Ferns, Nicholas
Call Number: DA10 .J68
Publication Date: January 2024
Journal of imperial and Commonwealth history, 2024-01, Vol.52 (1), p.158-180. Available in print and electronic form.
Building a Nation in Papua New Guinea by Kavanamur, David T.; Charles Yala; Quinton Clements
Call Number: Electronic Book
ISBN: 1740760565
Publication Date: 2003
At the beginning of the new century, twenty-five years since independence, many changes have occurred in Papua New Guinea, from the Bougainville civil war and internal political crises, to the many challenges posed by globalization and socio-political changes. This collection of essays, written by the post-independence generation of Papua New Guinea, articulates a vision for the future.

UHM Pacific digital image collections

Each of the below collections includes imagery from Papua New Guinea, West Papua or Bougainville, all taken before, during or relatively soon after World War II. They document these countries during the colonial period (which, in the case of West Papua, is ongoing).

The Douglas Oliver Collection, Bougainville 1938-1939
Dr. Douglas Oliver (Feb. 10, 1913 - October 30, 2009) completed a B.A. at Harvard in 1934 and a DPhil in Ethnology at the University of Vienna in 1935. Between 1938 and 1939, Oliver conducted research on Bougainville, among the Siwai (a.k.a. Siuai) people. The majority of these images derive from that period.
The George Grace Linguistic Research and Slides of Melanesia Collection, 1955-1956
Dr. George Grace (b. September 8, 1921, d. January 17, 2015) was a professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, where he served on the faculty in the Department of Linguistics from 1964 until 1991. In 1955, while a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, Dr. Grace traveled throughout Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, West Papua (then known as Irian Jaya) and the Solomon Islands.
The Pacific In Wartime
The images contained in this online collection are digital reproductions of materials in several distinct art and photograph collections, covering a range of geographic regions and time periods. Taken as a whole, these collections document many facets of life in the Pacific during World War II, from the brutal and the tragic to the mundane.