Last modified: 2019-04-27 by ian macdonald
Keywords: new guinea |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
See also:
The TNG flag and TNGC customs flag belonged to the area of the former German
New Guinea in the north east of the island, which became the Australian
Territory of New Guinea under a League of Nations Mandate in 1919. In 1949, the
two territories were combined administratively, although in some sense they were
still distinct until independence.
Jonathan Dixon, 24 September 2015
These two flags were the only known ones unique to pre-war New Guinea, with the Australian Blue Ensign flown for most purposes from 1921 to 1942. However instead of the territory Administrators flying the Australian Blue Ensign as was done in the other territories (except Papua), they reportedly flew the semi official TNG flag as shown below.
Jeff Thomson, 29 March 2019
image by Ben Cahoon, 1 May 2012
The possible 1921-49 Territory of New Guinea flag.
Ben Cahoon, 1 May 2012
Little is known for certain about this flag. No record has been found of any official authorisation for it, or when it first came into service. This flag was flown for the New Guinea Administrator when afloat, from the peak or main masthead and at the same time the Australian Blue Ensign was flown as the ship's ensign. It can be taken as suspended from noon on 14 February 1942 and cancelled outright from 30 October 1945. In recent years it has become used as the representative flag icon of pre-war New Guinea, despite its semi-official status and its probably only being the Administrator's personal flag. Suggestions that it was also flown as a
de facto flag of the New Guinea administration, or that austere depression-era variants were produced without crowns and/or garlands, have not been confirmed to date. Australian government policy from about 1908 was for the undefaced Australian Blue Ensign to be flown as the flag of territory administrations and as the personal flag of the Administrators, thus making this 'TNG' flag a purely local arrangement.
Jeff Thomson, 29 March 2019
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 Cth Blue Ensign, was
'combined' with it to form a PAPUA-badged Cth 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
File 109104 also contains a 1949 letter (p4) from Mr Halliagan (Dept External
Territories) to a German (vexillologist?) Mr Karl Fachinger, informing him
that the precise specifications of the NG customs flags, as they were lost
during the war and no longer in use. "From information in various sources, it
would appear that the Badge varies in size from a 9 inch disc on a flag of 36
inches to a 24 inch disc on a flag of 108 inches. The centre of the Badge is
placed equidistant from the bottom corner of the Union Jack and the outside
edge of the Ensign, as indicated on the sketch which accompanied your
letter".
Jonathan Dixon, 20 November 2012
Details of the New Guinea Customs flag
prescription 1928 to 1951: Reportedly such flags existed, but their
use ceased permanently in February 1942;
Customs Regulations No 84; 31/10/1928; Regulation 2.
'The Customs Flag shall be the flag of the Commonwealth of Australia
(Blue Ensign), with the addition in the fly of a white ball with the
letters "T.N.G.C." in black in bold character.'
Jeff Thomson, 29
October 2015
The badge sizes quoted above by Jonathan for the New Guinea customs flag suggest that they were placed within the Southern Cross, in the true fly centre. Sometimes badges on defaced pre-war Commonwealth ensigns were placed in the fly within a more spread-out Southern Cross, rather than in the flag's lower centre. Unlike other pre-war territory flags this one, and it's Papuan customs counterpart were not taken as cancelled with establishment of the Provisional Administration on 30 October 1945. They remained prescribed in their respective Customs Regulations (but reportedly unused) until the unified customs laws took effect in November 1951. The Australian Blue Ensign without any additions was reportedly flown instead.
Jeff Thomson, 29 March 2019
Quarantine Regulations (1922) No 18 of 1923; Section 71. Effective 05/06/1924.
Quarantine Regulations 1927 No 8; Section 74. (25/01/1927). Replaced 29 November 1956.
Quarantine Ensign for Launches.
Launches while on Quarantine Duty shall fly the Quarantine ensign. The Quarantine ensign shall be a blue ensign showing on a circular yellow disc or badge the crown over an anchor crossed by a serpent-coiled rod.
Jeff Thomson, 29 March 2019