The Territory of Papua and New Guinea was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New Guinea (the latter being a United Nations trust territory administered by Australia) in 1949. In December 1971, the name of the Territory changed to "Papua New Guinea" and in 1975 it became the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
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The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the annexation but in 1884 a protectorate was proclaimed over the territory, then called British New Guinea. There is a certain ambiguity about the exact date on which the entire territory was annexed by the British. The Papua Act 1905 recites that this happened "on or about" 4 September 1888. On 18 March 1902, the Territory was placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia. Resolutions of acceptance were passed by the Commonwealth Parliament, which accepted the territory under the name of Papua.
In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of New Guinea were established in an administrative union by the name of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. That administrative union was renamed as Papua New Guinea in 1971. Notwithstanding that it was part of an administrative union, the Territory of Papua at all times retained a distinct legal status and identity; it was a Possession of the Crown, whereas the Territory of New Guinea was initially a League of Nations mandate territory and subsequently a United Nations trust territory. This legal and political distinction remained until the advent of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea in 1975.
The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered territory, first as a League of Nations mandate and then as a United Nations trust territory, in the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands, from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, it was united with the Territory of Papua to create the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. That administrative union was renamed as Papua New Guinea in 1971. Notwithstanding that it was part of an administrative union, the Territory of New Guinea at all times retained a distinct legal status and identity until the advent of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
The initial Australian mandate, entitled the Mandate for the German Possessions in the Pacific Ocean situated South of the Equator other than German Samoa and Nauru, was based on the previous German New Guinea, which had been captured and occupied by Australian forces during World War I.
The Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975 is legislation passed by the Parliament of Australia. It replaced the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949, and changed the status of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea to that of an independent Papua New Guinea. The act set 16 September 1975 as the date of Papua New Guinea's independence and terminated all remaining sovereign and legislative powers of Australia over the country.
The New York Agreement, officially the Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands Concerning West New Guinea, is an agreement signed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Indonesia regarding the administration of the territory of Western New Guinea. The first part of the agreement proposes that the United Nations assume administration of the territory, and a second part proposes a set of social conditions that will be provided if the United Nations exercises a discretion proposed in article 12 of the agreement to allow Indonesian occupation and administration of the territory. Negotiated during meetings hosted by the United States, the agreement was signed on 15 August 1962 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, United States.
The agreement was added to the agenda of the 1962 United Nations General Assembly and precipitated General Assembly Resolution 1752 (XVII) granting the United Nations authority to occupy and administer West New Guinea. Although agreements are not able to negate obligations defined in the Charter of the United Nations, and the agreement asserted that it was for the benefit of the people of the territory, some people believed that the agreement was sacrificing the people of the territory for the benefit of the foreign powers.