The Australian Empire

From the Equator to the Pole

NORTH AUSTRALIA (1846 and 1927-1931)

North Australia is a term used to describe the general area of the ‘Top End’ of Australia around Darwin. On two occasions, however, it has identified separate territories of Australia.

 

History

A colony called North Australia was authorised by Letters Patent of the British Parliament dated 17 February 1846. It covered all land now in the Northern Territory and that area of Queensland that lies north of 26º South line of latitude.  Its capital was Port Curtis (now called Gladstone) with Colonel George Barney as Lieutenant-Governor and Superintendent. The colony was intended as a new penal colony after the end of transportation in the older Australian colonies. The Letters Patent, however, were revoked in December 1846 after a change of government in Britain although this news did not reach Sydney till 15 April 1847.

George Pearce, Minister for Home and Territories in the Federal Parliament in the 1920s, thought that the Northern Territory was too large to be adequately governed, and thus for a short time it was divided into two separate territories. In 1926, the Commonwealth’s Northern Australia Act divided the Northern Territory into two territories - North Australia and Central Australia. The two were separated by the 20th parallel of South latitude with Darwin and Alice Springs being the respective capitals. Each had its own Government Resident and administration. The hoped-for administrative efficiencies were apparently not realised for by 1931 this Act was repealed and from that year the Northern Territory was reunited and administered as before.

North Australia has also been proposed as the name to be adopted by the Northern Territory if it becomes a state of Australia.

 

 

Figure 77 – Australia showing North Australia                 (Source: Colton 1855)

 

CENTRAL AUSTRALIA (1927 - 1931)

Today Central Australia is a term that refers to the general geographic area surrounding Alice Springs. For a short period, however, it identified a separate territory of Australia. The territory covered an area of 546,046 sq km (40% of the current Northern Territory).

 

History

George Pearce, Minister for Home and Territories in the Federal Parliament in the 1920s, thought that the Northern Territory was too large to be adequately governed, and thus for a short time it was divided into two separate territories.

In 1926, the Commonwealth’s Northern Australia Act divided the Northern Territory into two territories - North Australia and Central Australia. The two were separated by the 20th parallel of South latitude with Darwin and Alice Springs being the respective capitals. Each had its own Government Resident and administration.

The hoped-for administrative efficiencies were apparently not realised for by 1931 this Act was repealed and from that year the Northern Territory was reunited and administered as before.

 

 

Figure 78 - Australian showing North and Central Australia subdivisions    (Source: George Philip 1932)

 

AUSTRALIAN NEW GUINEA (1906 - 1975)

Papua New Guinea covers 462,840 sq km and includes the eastern half of the island of New Guinea (the second largest island in the world after Greenland) Bougainville, New Ireland, New Britain and many other islands. Papua New Guinea's territorial boundaries extend to the equator with one island just 30 km south. Papua New Guinea's population is estimated to be 4.5 million (95% Melanesian, 5% Polynesian, Micronesian, Chinese).

 

History

The first settlers arrived on the main island from Southeast Asia more than 50,000 years ago. New Guinea's recorded history began with the visits of Portuguese explorers in the early 16th century, followed by Dutch traders. The Dutch East India Company took control of the western half of the island, which became a colonial possession attached to the Dutch East Indies in 1828. Germany followed taking possession of the northern part of the territory in 1884. Britain reacted to this by declaring a protectorate over the southern region three days later.

In 1906, British New Guinea became Papua, and administration of the region was taken over by newly independent Australia. With the outbreak of World War I, Australian troops promptly seized the German headquarters at Rabaul and subsequently took control of all of German New Guinea.

In 1920, the League of Nations officially mandated Australia’s management of eastern New Guinea. During World War II the northern islands and most of the northern coast fell to the Japanese who advanced southward until stalled by Allied forces. By 1945 the mainland and Bougainville had been recaptured, but the Japanese were impregnable in New Ireland and especially Rabaul in New Britain, where they dug 500km of tunnels. They surrendered these strongholds at the end of the war.

Post-war, the eastern half of New Guinea reverted to Australia and became the Territory of Papua & New Guinea. The Dutch half of the island was seized by Indonesia in 1963 and is now the troubled province of Irian Jaya. Papua New Guinea was granted full independence from Australia in 1975.

Successive governments since independence have found it difficult to make the most of Papua New Guinea’s abundant natural resources, in order to finance the country’s much needed development. This has involved a balancing act in accommodating the mining companies, ensuring that the benefits of their activities accrue to the Papuan people, while protecting the environment. This worked reasonably well during the early years of independence. Unfortunately it fell apart at the end of the 1980s due to developments on the island of Bougainville, the site of one of the world’s largest copper mines and source of one-third of Papua’s export income. In May 1990, Bougainville declared independence – no one recognised it, apart from the Solomon Islands, which has close links with Bougainville. Peace finally returned in 1998.

Papua New Guinea has a unicameral parliamentary system, with executive power nominally held by the British Crown, represented by a Governor General. Legislative power rests with the 109-member parliament. The local government system underwent extensive reform in 1995, when the 19 directly elected provincial governments were replaced by new regional authorities.

 

 

Figure 79 - Australian New Guinea 1962                 (Source: National Geographic Magazine)

 

 

Figure 80 - Papua New Guinea 1982                 (Source: National Geographic Magazine)


NAURU (1914 - 1968)

Nauru is located in the south western Pacific just 55km south of the equator. It covers 21 sq km with a highest point of 61m. Its population is 12,329 and is the world's smallest republic. Interestingly, it has no capital city. The CIA website describes Nauru as a "broad-based money-laundering center" [sic].

 

History

Captain John Fearn discovered Nauru in 1798 and named it Pleasant Island. The next Europeans visitors were those typical of the times - whalers, blackbirders, loggers and buccaneers. They introduced firearms and alcohol which helped to destroy a relatively peaceful life of the native tribes. Subsequent warfare and disease quickly reduced the population by a third in forty years. Things became so bad that German traders based there asked their government to protect them. In 1888 Germany invaded and incorporated the island into the German Marshall Islands.

In 1899, a British mining company started mining Nauru for its phosphate - a valuable fertiliser formed from bird droppings. Australia's first military action of World War l was to capture Nauru from Germany - which it did with one warship without an angry shot. After the war, the island became a British-mandated territory administered by Australia and exploitation of the phosphate continued in earnest.

In December 1940, German raiders exacted revenge for the loss of its colony by shelling and sinking several Australian and British vessels sheltering offshore. In 1942, the Japanese invaded and immediately deported 1,200 people to Truk Island as forced labour. After the war, Nauru remained under Australian administration as a United Nations Trust Territory. At that time, the British Phosphate Commission offered to resettle islanders, suggesting Curtis Island in chilly Bass Strait. Needless to say, the Nauruans turned down the offer.

Nauru won full independence from Australia in 1968. In 1970, Australia, New Zealand and Britain handed over their joint control of the phosphate operations to the Nauru Phosphate Corporation. Up to two million tons of phosphate has been mined each year for decades over a 5 km narrow gauge railway. The Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust invests money from the sale of phosphate and has extensive investments in Australia, Hawaii and other countries as insurance for the day when the phosphate runs out.

 

Further Reading (from the Lonely Planet Guide)

Seemingly limitless mining proceeds have made Nauruans the wealthiest people in the Pacific, but at various stages in their history people, culture, forest, soil and then subsoil have been stripped or shipped away at the whim of foreign powers. Exploitation has become an art form. The bird poop that was the island has been an economic boon to islanders, but Nauru's interior could now only be described as an 'ecological basket case'. Island culture has been assaulted by the weight of imported customs, junk food, fridges, televisions and electric cookers, but it does survive in a modified form. Nauru is not geared up for tourism, and the settlements offer little to the traveller, but that is likely to change once the phosphate bubble bursts in a few years. A colourful reef dotted with World War II sunken wrecks surrounds the island, the waters make great diving and the sport fishing is incomparable.

 

Figure 81 – Nauru