The Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 was an Act passed by the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

. It replaced the '' Papua Act 1905'' and the '' New Guinea Act 1920'', and changed the status of the territories of Papua and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

by merging their administrations to form

Papua and New Guinea The Territory of Papua and New Guinea , officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New ...

. The Act established local rule, although the territory remained under control by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The Act was repealed by the ''

Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975 The Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975 was an Act passed by the Parliament of Australia. It replaced the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949, and changed the status of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea to that of an independent Papua New Guin ...

'' which allowed for

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

's independence from Australia.

References

Australia and the Commonwealth of Nations Politics of Papua and New Guinea 1949 in Australian law 1949 in Papua New Guinea 1949 in international relations Papua New Guinea and the Commonwealth of Nations Repealed Acts of the Parliament of Australia Territory of Papua and New Guinea {{PapuaNewGuinea-stub