Function and purpose

British New Guinea was transferred to the newly created Commonwealth of Australia in 1902, which formally took control in 1906, when British New Guinea became Papua. Australia captured German New Guinea in 1914. It became known as the Territory of New Guinea, which Australia administered according to a mandate by the League of Nations in 1921. Japan occupied much of New Guinea during WWII. Following the war, Australia administered both Papua and New Guinea together under a United Nations trusteeship from 1946. The two territories were formally united as Papua New Guinea in 1949. Papua New Guinea gained self-government in 1973 and independence in 1975.

It is thought that the negatives, from which these prints have been made, were transferred from Port Moresby in 1942, presumably to the Department of Territories in Australia. However, further transfers probably occurred, as many of the photographs were taken after 1942. Between 1950 and 1952, the collection of c. 2400 photographs was made into a set of viewing prints pasted onto cards by the Department of Territories’ Research Section. The Department imposed a lexicographical subject classification system adapted from that used by the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Hawaii.

The series comprises many photographs taken by F. E. Williams, assistant government anthropologist from 1922 to 1928, and government anthropologist from 1928 to 1943 (c. 800). A range of individuals, including representatives of the Department of Information, and the News and Information Bureau, took the remainder of the photographs. Essentially, the collection has been brought together from a range of sources. The photographs cover a range of topics and areas throughout Australian-administered Papua and New Guinea for the period 1904 to 1954. Some of the photographs are viewing prints of negatives held in other series (see A6003 and A6004).

The photographs were transferred to the National Archives in 1960.  The original accession documentation indicates that the original order of the photographs, as kept by Williams, was disturbed and could not be reconstructed. The photographs were then arranged according to the classification system. However, the original numerical lists were rediscovered and the photographs were rearranged into numerical order in 1983. This arrangement is thought to be that originally used by Williams.

The three-tiered classification symbols comprise alphabetical letters representing part of the classification, eg A – Ethnology, C - Administration, CA – the Administrator, CB - Administration Headquarters (see series note for A6005; see below for full listing). Each broad category is broken down further into several smaller categories. For example, under Ethnology, AA denotes Physical Anthropology. Under Physical Anthropology, AAA denotes Albinism. In some cases, the classification system goes down to four levels. For example, the fourth letter in AAGA represents the location, eg. Bougainville.

Each print in A6510 is pasted onto a card 20.3 x 32.5 cm. Some of the cards are pale pink and others are buff in colour. All have ‘Library, Department of Territories’ stamped in red on the back. The cards contain the following information:

Classification no.: eg. AAA.

See also Note(s): eg. information about other prints relating to this one.

Territory: usually this is Papua, though some cards have New Guinea written here.

District/Division: eg. Northern. Papua and New Guinea was divided into districts and divisions for administrative purposes.

Locality: eg. Agaundi. This is probably a more local name for the area, rather than a name imposed by the administration.

File Reference (if any): very few cards have this information. Although not established, this reference appears to relate to Department of Territories’ files.

Date taken: not all records provide this information.

By whom taken: This is often F. E. Williams, who was the assistant government anthropologist (1922-1928) and government anthropologist (1928-1949). Other names that appear are W. Brindle (Department of Information), V. Gadsby (possibly of the News and Information Bureau, Department of the Interior), and D. J. Clancy and A. K. Jackson (PNG Administration).

Where Negative held: sometimes “Dept” is filled in here, assumed to refer to the Department of Territories.

Serial no.: this refers to the print serial number.

Serial no. of Negative: this refers to the serial number of a negative from which the photograph has been reproduced. This information is not always provided.

Notes: this contains a description of the subject of the print.

References to Literature: this was presumably intended for further research purposes, though it has rarely been filled in. In some cases, photographs appeared in published literature and the reference appears here.

The districts and divisions shown on the classification index are as follows:

Papua – Western, Delta, Gulf, Central, Milne Bay (also known as Eastern, or South-Eastern for the area of the Trobriand Islands), and Northern.

New Guinea – Central Highlands, Sepik, Madang, Morobe, New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville and Manus.

Photograph number 1538 was not included in the transfer, for reasons unknown.

Sources

• Bassett, Jan  1986  The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Australian History  Melbourne: Oxford University Press
• L. Douglas  1986  Chronology of events OR who did what and to whom and why, wherefore and whichever (Series File A6510)
• Series Note for A6003, 1996
• Series Description for A6510, continuation sheets, date and author unknown