Col J. K. Murray
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
Administrator of Papua-New Guinea for Another Year
IT was officially announced on October 28, by the Australian Minister for Territories (Mr. Ward) that the ap pointment of the Administrator of Papua-New Guinea (Colonel J. K. Mur ray) had been extended for twelve months.
The whole official set-up, in relation to the Australian Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, is a little difficult for ordinary people to understand.
When the Japs invaded in January, 1942, the civil administrations of both Territories were suspended and the Ter ritories passed into the charge of the Australian Army. The latter, in due course, created the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) to take care of administration. In 1945-46, as the Japs were driven out, the Army, step by step, surrendered its ANGAU re sponsibility to the Papua-New Guinea Provisional Administration, which had been set up by the Australian Govern ment under National Emergency and other war-time powers, to re-establish civil government.