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In 1906, the colony became the Australian Territory of Papua (the first
territory of the Commonwealth government). Once the relevant legislation had
passed in 1905, the Port Moresby administration was asked for a decision about
the badge (a question which had been deferred since 1904 when the Empire-wide
change to Tudor crowns had been communicated from London). On 23 January 1906,
the Executive Council agreed the badge should be a "Tudor crown above the word
PAPUA in plain capitals, and the whole surrounded by a laurel wreath". The
endorsement of this badge by the Commonwealth government was sent to the
Colonial Office on 23 February 1906. When new flags were required in November,
London confirmed that the design had been approved.
After the new Acting
Administrator of the territory received the 1907 Flag Book, two messages were
sent to Melbourne on 30 November 1907. One expressed regret at the lack of
historical or characteristic significance, especially in contrast with the
Public Seal, and the lack of the wreath (presumably not understanding that the
badge was shown without the wreath, which would still feature on the Governor's
flag). The second was accompanied by a flag, presumably a blue ensign defaced
with the former badge, and asked whether this was the flag (with badge replaced)
that was to be used at the 12 government stations and whether government vessels
and boats should continue to fly the same flag, or would the government prefer
the use of a (possibly modified) Australian flag.
A memo dated 20
December 1907 from Atlee Hunt (Dept of External Affairs) to the Prime Minister
seemed to treat both parts of the question together, recommending "that a rule
be laid down that territories of the Commonwealth use the Commonwealth Flag
(blue ensign) with some distinguishing badge in fly thereof; such badge is to be
in the case of Papua, the word PAPUA in block letters on a white circular
patch." A letter to the Papuan administration on 6 January 1908 tells us that
the minister agreed, at the very least in the case of Papua.
In preparing
drawings and actual flags as a pattern for the new design, Dept of External
Affairs correspondence suggested different possibilities - red or black letters,
disc 1/3 or 2/5 the width of the flag (see
this image - a rough example included at some point, made simply
by pasting a handwritten badge (no block capitals) on a recent print of the
Commonwealth blue ensign). Instructions for making a similar image explicitly
state that the vertical diameter of the badge is to be "in middle of flag, i.e.
in line with outer edge of Jack".
A copy of the defaced Commonwealth
ensign was sent to Papua on 14 July 1908, along with the information that "in
all probability" the Commonwealth star was to be changed from 6 points to 7, the
"Imperial authorities having been asked for the necessary authority" (see
this Australian page). It seems that the Papuan
ensign, and the general rule for territories, may have been forgotten very
quickly. Whatever I have read suggests that the British crown and "PAPUA" ensign
continued to be used. No details appear to have been sent to London, which
probably didn't help the new design.
However, I do like to entertain the possibility that the questions about the
flag of Papua had an impact on the design of the Australian flag. Atlee Hunt was
dealing with the same issue at the same time as the design of the new arms of
the Commonwealth. The proposed crest - a six pointed star, as on the
Governor General's flag, was too similar to an
existing crest. Just before the suggestion that Papua should fly Australian,
rather than British, flags, Hunt communicated to London that adding rays to the
star would be an appropriate difference, but by the time he prepared the memo
about territorial flags, he was passing on a request for 7 points instead, one
to represent the territories. This was approved, which led to the use of the
same star by the Governor General, and the change
in the blue and red ensigns to seven points.
Sources: National Archives of
Australia A1, 1908/9191, digital copy at
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=9680 and A462, 828/3/8
PART 1,
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=98430.
Jonathan
Dixon, 1 May 2012
There is plenty of evidence that the Flag of the Territory of Papua was the
badged British Blue Ensign. But a report from the post-war P&NG Administrator
was misinterpreted by Dept. External Territories staff, so that the above flag,
which was being replaced in general use pre-war by the Commonwealth Blue Ensign, was
'combined' with it to form a PAPUA-badged Commonwealth Blue Ensign. I haven't found any
hard evidence that this alleged badged ANF, or a matching ARE, existed.
Jeff Thomson, 24 October 2012
Firstly, as I remarked above, a 'PAPUA'-badged
Commonwealth Flag was certainly approved by the Australian government in 1908,
even if it was quickly forgotten or deliberately replaced. In the three NAA
files, the earliest mention of flags in Papua is a Department of External
Territories document dated 11 November 1949 which describes flag use before the
war (during which Papua and New Guinea were jointly administered). (NAA barcode
102516, page 239)
This document describes the Flag of Papua as the
"Commonwealth Blue Ensign with approved badge", and implies that this was the
PAPUA + crown badge approved in 1906. It says the flag was used on administrative
buildings, by administration vessels, and on the mizzen mast accompanying the
Administrator's defaced Union Jack on the main mast when the governor was
aboard.
Also mentioned is the ensign required by the local customs
regulations
- the "Flag of the Territory of Papua (Blue Ensign) with the
addition in the fly of the letters "H.M.C." in black in bold character"
(presented as a quote from the regulations), with the note that there is no
indication that this flag was used before the war, and wasn't used afterwards.
The same document, when dealing with pre-1942 New Guinea, describes two
flags: the flag flown by the Administrator when afloat as a 'Blue Ensign with
Laurel Wreath enclosing the letters "T.N.G."'; and the customs flag as a
"Commonwealth Blue Ensign with the addition in the fly of a white ball with the
letters "T.N.G.C." in black in bold character". Whoever wrote the document seems
careful to distinguish between badges on the British Blue Ensign and defacements
to the Australian blue flag. This would add weight to the claim that Papua had a
defaced Australian flag, although I note that the document is describing the
situation of at least 7 years (and a war) earlier, and does not say what it was
based on. Seeing as it is dated before the P&NG administration responded
to a request for comment (see below), I'd guess it was based on departmental
records.
(Our sources for the territory flag, described on the
overview page of PNG historical flags, include a
crown in the badge, although Jilek (1989a)
agrees with the DET document in not including a crown. I don't think we mention
the customs flag, while Jilek does describe the badge without any mention of
which flag it defaces. The document acknowledges that they do not know of any
authority for the TNG flag, but the customs flag was defined in the customs
regulations.)
The 1949 DET document also says that only the Commonwealth
Blue Ensign had been used since the resumption of (joint) civil
administration of the territories, and I guess Jeff meant that it replaced the
earlier flags post-war, rather than pre-war.
The Administration, replying
to the department on 7 December (pp218-219), also uses "Commonwealth Blue
Ensign" to describe the NG customs ensign, but describes the flags of both Papua
and NG as simply Blue Ensigns with lettered badges without crowns, and the Papua
customs ensign as an HMC-badged blue ensign, not HMC added to the territory
flag. They were very keen to stress conformance with usual British practice,
both in the past, and as a recommendation for the future, but detailed different
flag usage (pre-war) on boats in the two territories, as well as suggesting that
P&NG might deserve a bird of paradise badge rather than simply letters.
A
memo from the department to the Prime Minister's Department on 20 February 1952
(p125) provides details of use at that time of the blue Commonwealth flag and
the new "T.P. & N.G.C." badge defacing it for the customs ensign, and also
another conflicting account of the pre-war Papua flag. It says the PAPUA+crown
badge was used on a "British Blue Ensign", mentioning that approval for the
badge was given in 1926. Given that that exact badge was approved for use on a
normal British ensign in 1906, I guess that 1926 is a typo.
Jonathan
Dixon, 26 October 2012
Indeed I believe it was a typo Jonathan, because I think I've found it in an on-line National Archives document, barcode 109104 page 46. At the bottom of a handwritten note is the date of British approval of the crown-over-PAPUA badge. However the 0 of 1906 looks much more like a 2, and it seems that someone in the Australian government had read it as such in the 1940s. All mentions in old government documents of a 1926 approval date for the PAPUA badge appear to be based upon this simple error. The true quoted date was 28 November 1906.
Jeff Thomson, 29 March 2019
image by Ian MacDonald, June 2019
In 1907, Australian bureaucrats proposed "that a rule be laid down that territories of the Commonwealth use the Commonwealth Flag (blue ensign) with some distinguishing badge in fly thereof; such badge is to be in the case of Papua, the word PAPUA in block letters on a white circular patch." That this flag was to be used in Papua was confirmed in January 1908, but it wasn't recorded in the Admiralty Flag Book and I haven't come across any other mention of it.
Since we discussed this earlier in the year, I've come across a hint that
there might be evidence of this flag in use, but it was replaced the same year
(1908) by one "with crown". I am chasing that up and will
let you know more details, but it's worth keeping in mind.
Jonathan Dixon,
27 October 2012
Some more details on the flags used in Papua between 1908 and WWII,
particularly the Australian blue ensign defaced with "PAPUA" in a white disc
which was chosen by the Australian government in 1908. There is, after all,
evidence that this was actually used, and it seems likely that this or a variant
was indeed used until 1942.
There is, after all, a photo of this flag in
use, flying at The Residency, Kulumadau, Woodlark Island, "approximately 1908".
The photo shows the seven pointed Commonwealth star and white disc with writing,
although the other stars are not clear. Notes by Tessa Jones accompanying the
photo confirm that the text is "PAPUA", and also comment that the flag was used
only until 1908, and that one "with a crown" was used until 1940.
In December 1942, after the territory had been placed in military
administration, there were enquiries in Canberra about flag use, seemingly
inspired by General Blamey's observation of the use of the Union Jack (rather
than an Australian flag) at Government House in Port Moresby, saying the locals
had been taught to revere it. The Department of the Army consulted with the
Department of External Territories. The first response, on 21 December, referred
to instructions from the Prime Minister's Department from the 1920s (circulated
in Papua in 1931), which dealt with use of Australian and state flag, but not
specifically territories, and were reported that the Commonwealth flag and
British Ensign Papua flag (with 1906 badge) were used. (NAA barcode 109104, p40)
image by Ian MacDonald, June 2019
On 23 December, after "further research and enquiry" Mr Halligan at the DET,
corrected this, saying that the UJ that was used at Government House and the Papuan
flag used at all other buildings was not as previously described, but the
defaced Australian flag. Only the word Papua is mentioned for the badge, no
crown. A handwritten note included in NAA file barcode 109104 notes the use of
the Papuan flag on government vessels as well as at outstations, and describes
the badge with crown used with a laurel wreath on the
Union Jack when the Governor was afloat. (pp. 38-39)
The original opinion
of the Department of the Army was that in general circumstances, the Australian
flag should be used rather than the Union Jack. This remained unchanged when the
current situation was better explained, and they advised that the flag should be
used whenever it would be in Australia, removing any reference to existing
Papuan flags from the draft letter to the Commander-in-Chief. This seems to be
how the Papuan flag met its demise, as well as the use of the Union Jack at Port
Moresby and possibly Norfolk Island. (pp36, 24-5)
image provided by Jonathan Dixon, 20 November 2012
After the war, Papua and New Guinea were administrated jointly. On 19
July 1946, the administrator, J. K. Murray, proposed a flag for the combined
territories which "more or less fits with the precedents in Appendix 6 of the
Colonial Regulations". This proposal was an Australian blue ensign with a laurel
wreath in the lower part of the flag, enclosing the inscription "T." above "P.-N
G." (line drawing above). This prompted more inquiries into
what flags had been used pre-war. Once again, notes at the Dept of External
Territories assume Papua followed the standard British colonial model with the
badge adopted in 1906, while other territories use simply the Australian flag
(although they note customs regulations). In contrast, the reports from PNG (in Jan
1947) describe the flags other than the UJ used
pre-war both in New Guinea and Papua as based on the "Blue Ensign",
understood to be the Australian version. Once again, the badge for Papua is
described without reference to a crown. (pp. 19,12-13,9)
The idea of a
new flag for the combined territories was rejected, at least partly because
it was thought the Commonwealth flag would be adequate (except where an
alternative was required by customs regulations) until a permanent administration
was established. (pp6-7)
Where does that leave the 1908 flag? It was
adopted and used with the 7 pointed star version of the Australian flag. The
reference to a new flag with a crown is possibly consistent with reverting to
standard British colonial flag with Admiralty approved badge. It is certainly
consistent with the descriptions of PAPUA and crown on an Australian flag in
Department of External Territories documents from 1949 (see my 27 October
post), although the basis for those descriptions seems a bit shaky. In any
case, it may be that someone decided the Australian ensign should be defaced
with the Admiralty-approved badge, rather than simply the name. However, by
the 1940s the administration do not mention this. I would say it's very unclear
whether (or when?) this defaced Australian ensign was used with a crown or
not, but given the reports in 1942 and 1946/7, it was probably used in some
form until 1942.
Sources:
National Archives of Australia series
A518 item Z918/1 barcode 109104,
https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=109104
Photo with notes by Tessa Jones, Papers, 1897-2006, from Papua New
Guinea Association of Australia, UQFL 387, Box 8, Folder 8, Fryer Library,
University of Queensland Library.
Jonathan Dixon, 20 November 2012
This is a discussion regarding the confusion within the
Commonwealth government during the 1940s and 1950s, as to whether the Blue
Ensigns and Red Ensigns being referred to as Papua and New Guinea territory
flags in various official documents were the British or Australian types. In
those days it appears that many government officials in Australia and in the
territories saw no particular difference between these flags as we do today, and
saw no need to draw the distinction. As a result there are dozens of documents
rendered largely useless because they provide us with no clear clue as to
exactly which flag they meant.
Misunderstandings happened because of the habit most people had of referring
to 'blue ensign' or 'red ensign' without explaining whether they were talking
about the British or Australian flags. 'The Papuan 1917 Customs Regulations (repealed 1951) specified a Blue
Ensign, as far as I know, never the Commonwealth one. So it remains interpreted
as the badged British flag, to me at least!
Jeff Thomson, 24 October
2012
I think there was such a misunderstanding later on in 1954. A 19
August letter from Port Moresby to the Department of Territories, forwarded
directly to the Prime Minister's Department, (NAA barcode 1863037 pp238-239)
outlined the current use the Australian National Flag and Australian Red Ensign
in the combined territory (in line with post-Flags Act norms), and also saying
that the official flag of Papua remained a blue or red ensign with the crown and
PAPUA badge. The reader is referred to the Admiralty Flag Book for an image of
the badge, and the pre-1906 BNG flag is described in the same way, so I would
expect that they meant a British ensign rather than a Commonwealth one.
However, it seems this information caused the Papua flags to be listed as one of
the officially used defacements of the Australian National Flag or Red Ensign in
a table distributed by the Prime Minister's Department on 22 December. (many
copies in NAA e.g. barcode 7853923, p44) Especially since the description was
given in a response to a request for information specifically about defaced
national flags/ensigns, this can easily have been caused simply by a different
interpretation of "blue or red ensign", whether or not the compilers had any
other reason to think a badged Australian flag for the territory existed.
It seems to me, though, that the authors of the 1949-1952 documents are at
least partly aware of the possibility of confusion, and that they have tried to
get it right. At least, if any of the disagreement is caused by simple confusion
regarding the term "blue ensign", it's not clear which way it went. Even if all
the documents were based on reasonably reliably sources, it's just as plausible
that the Port Moresby administration were righting about flags as used 7 years
earlier, while the DET were basing their conclusions on their records of
approvals given or passed on by them. In particular, until we get to further
evidence, the difference could be explained by Papuan authorities relying on the
Flag Book at any time between 1908 and 1949.
Jonathan Dixon, 26
October 2012
The trouble is that at the highest levels of Government post-war, the existence of a PAPUA-badged Blue or Red Australian Ensign became accepted as fact. Even worse, in the 1950s they were used as a precedent to develop a policy for ANF/ARE use in separately-administered external territories.
The various 1950s groups working on the 'flags question' supported the
undefaced ANF/ARE being used for all non-Customs purposes in all the
Territories. Pre-war flags, such as badged British Blue Ensigns and Union Flags
were not reintroduced under the post-war combined administration. However a
policy formed that where there was a separate administration, a badged ANF and
badged ARE were to be used by the Administration, but not by the public in
general. Although often stated, this was expected to be a later development,
with undefaced flags to be used in the Territories for the foreseeable future.
Jeff Thomson, 24 October 2012
The
discussions we've been talking about were occurring in the context of a
committee developing policies on flag flying, many of the recommendations of
which were incorporated into the Flags Act in 1953-4. Section 6 of the act
allows for warrants for use of defacements of the flags governed by the act, and
was included because of the recommendations that government bodies (including
state bodies interacting with foreigners!) use national flags/ensigns defaced
with their badge (see briefing note for 1960 committee meeting: barcode 1863037
start p14.) Recommendation 13 dealt with territories and read (can be found on
p29 in file):
Regarding Australian territories other than the mainland and Tasmania, the committee suggests that generally the Australian National Flag should be used. Where, however, a separate administration has been set up for any territory, the Australian National Flag and the Australian Red Ensign defaced by the badge of the territory may be approved for use on its establishments and vessels in accordance with the normal usage.My impression is that this policy was developed by the DET fairly early on, and it's possible they mistakenly believed that this was the normal in Papua. Having said that, it is a fact that the policy proposed and presumably adopted in 1907 was very similar. I don't think reimposing it would have been very drastic.
The idea of adding territory badges to the Australian
National Flag and Australian Red Ensign for the use of territories with a
separate administration, seems to have remained as a 'dormant policy' until
about 1960 when it was in effect replaced by the policy of discouraging
defacement of the Australian flags which applies to this day. Eventually the
territories adopted their own flags of novel design under their own processes,
and not based upon the British or Australian ensign format. Papua New Guinea was
the first territory to do so in 1971, several years before any others did.
Jeff Thomson, 11 May 2019