He probed in vain the possibility of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea becoming a seventh State of Australia, yet he was also the first to recommend cementing national unity with a new name, crest, flag, and anthem for the Territory.Įlected as the representative for Alotau Open in the Territory’s second general election in 1968, Guise beat two European candidates to become the first indigenous Speaker of the House. In 1964 he startled Canberra when he called for a Select Committee on Constitutional Development and became its chairman (1965–66). The most experienced indigenous member of the Assembly, he spoke six languages in a House in which three languages (English, Tok Pisin, and Hiri Motu) were official. In the first elections for the House of Assembly in 1964, he was elected to represent Milne Bay and was later selected as the leader of elected members of the House. The following year he represented the Territory at the South Pacific Commission conference in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and was special adviser with the Australian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. In 1961, in the first election in which Papua New Guineans were able to stand for the Legislative Council, he was elected as the member for East Papua. Through her he strengthened his association with the south Papuan coast. As president (1958) of Port Moresby’s Mixed Race Association he called on people of mixed descent to see themselves as ‘natives’ (Nelson 1991) rather than Australians.įollowing the death of his wife in 1944, in 1947 Guise had married Unuba Aukai, who was born at Lalaura. In 1957 he joined the Department of Native Affairs in Port Moresby and began taking an active part in local politics. A devout Anglican, he represented the Territory of Papua and New Guinea at the Church of England Synod in Sydney four times from 1955. Promoted to sergeant major, the highest rank available for non-Europeans, he returned to Australia in 1953 as senior non-commissioned officer in the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary en route to England for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. He visited Australia for the first time in 1948. After the war he joined the police force as a sergeant.
Even-handed, non-racist military experiences politicised his thinking. Initially serving in the labour corps, he later became a signals clerk for ANGAU, rising to the rank of sergeant. After Japan entered World War II, in early 1942 he was drafted into the Papua (later Australian New Guinea) Administrative Unit (ANGAU). On 26 December 1938 Guise married Mary Miller at Dogura. An outstanding cricketer, he enjoyed demonstrating his superiority to his European bosses: ‘during working hours … I had to be a servant, on the field of sport I showed them I was their master’ (Guise quoted in Nelson 1991). His first job was with Burns, Philp & Co. John received four years of education at a local Church of England mission school before joining the workforce, aged fourteen, as a labourer. Reginald Edward Guise, his paternal grandfather, had been an English soldier and adventurer whose family had acquired a baronetcy at Gloucestershire in 1661. Both his parents were of mixed European and Papuan descent. However, there are only few large mammals on the islands but a large variety of reptiles, birds and plants.Sir John Douglas Guise (1914–1991), politician and governor-general of Papua New Guinea (PNG), was born on 29 August 1914 at Gedulalara, near Dogura, Milne Bay, Papua, son of Edward Guise, mission worker, and his wife Grace Samoa. There are so many remote regions that scientist still discover new species. Papua New Guinea is recognised as the most megadiverse country in the world due to the extreme high biodiversity which means there are many animals and plants that are only encountered here. Facts about Papua New Guinea | AnimalsĢ2. The country declared independence from Australia in 1949 but this independence was recognised only in September 1975.
PNG is part of the Commonwealth of Nations since 1975.Ģ1. During the second world war, Papua New Guinea was occupied by Japan. Before the second world war the country was already split in two territories: Papua occupied by the British and New Guinea, occopied by the Germans and then the Australians. The first foreign explorers from Australasia, Spain and England came to the islands from the 15th century onwards, in 1884 the Germans founded a colony on the island.
The first people settled on the island of New Guinea already over 50,000 years ago. Papua New Guinea stamp to honour Queen Elisabeth II.Ģ0.
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