In the 1870s and early 1880s, there was a growing interest by Holland, Britain and its Australian colonies and Germany in the Melanesian island of New Guinea. The Dutch annexed the western half as part of their East Indies in 1828. On April 4, 1863, the Magistrate of Thursday Island, acting on instructions from the Queensland Government raised the British Flag at Port Moresby taking possession of "all that part of New Guinea and adjacent islands thereto, between the 141st and 155th meridians of east longitude". This action was repudiated by the British Government due to their concerns that this action might have on relations between the two countries.

On November 3, 1884, a German protectorate was proclaimed over North West New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago. The British response was to proclaim a protectorate over South Eastern New Guinea and adjacent islands.

Sir Peter Scratchley arrived in Port Moresby on August 28, 1885 to become the first Administrator of the Territory. On his journey to Port Moresby, Sir Peter had made arrangements with the Queensland Department of Posts and Telegraphs. The Department agreed to treat British New Guinea in the same manner as an isolated outpost of Queensland. All mails were to carry Queensland stamps at a rate published in the Queensland Postal Guide. The government of British New Guinea was entitled to impose extra charges. If no extra charges were levied, the masters of vessels would be paid the "going rate" for mails on receipt in Cooktown.

Initially, the Administrator's official address was c/- Postmaster, Cooktown.

On September 4, 1888, Sir William Macgregor annexed the British protectorate to become a British colony to be called British New Guinea. The administration was carried out by the Colonial Office but with participation from the Australian colonies of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.

Financial responsibility was handed over to the Australian Commonwealth in 1901. Authority formerly held by the Queensland Government was transferred to the Commonwealth on March 18, 1902 and this was formally recognised by the Papua Act of 1905 that was effective from September 1, 1906. It also renamed the Territory from British New Guinea to Papua. This continued until the Japanese invasion of 1942 saw the end of civil administration on February 12, 1942.

Every Sovereign State or Colony has its laws that are passed by legislators written down. To assist the legal profession, such legislation is from time to time issued in consolidated form. The Territory of Papua was no exception. In 1918, the laws of the Territory operative as at December 31, 1916 were reprinted in consolidated form in three volumes. A further volume was added in 1925 covering the period to December 31, 1923.

In 1945, the Commonwealth Government decided to issue an annotated and consolidated reprint of all laws of the Territory including subordinate legislation from 1888 to the cessation of the Civil Administration in 1942. This reprint, in four volumes plus a separate index, covered the period until the introduction of the "Papua - New Guinea Provisional Administration Act" of October 29, 1945.

An Administrator now controlled the Territory. Prior to an amendment of the Papua Act in 1940, the Territory was under the control of a Lieutenant Governor. The Administrator (or Lieutenant Governor) was assisted by an Executive Council which comprised of originally of five but later increased to nine members appointed by the Administrator. These consisted of officers of the Territory and one non-official member selected from Legislative Council.

There was also, in this period, a Legislative Council that consisted of the Administrator, the Executive Council plus five non-official members also nominated by the Administrator and appointed by the Governor-General. One of these was to be nominated as representing the interests Christian missions in the Territory.

The basis for government in the Territory was the "Papua Act of 1905 - 1940". From this Act came the principal Ordinances and adopted Acts that were principally from Queensland but with some Imperial legislation. From 1905, Commonwealth legislation was also used. Each of these pieces of legislation is denoted by an ascending numeral sequence within the year they were issued.

The Legislative Council was empowered to make Ordinances for the peace, order and good government of the Territory. Such Ordinances had no force until assented to in a manner provided for in the Act. Every Ordinance passed by the Legislative Council had to be presented to the Administrator for assent. Within six month's of the Administrator's assent to any Ordinance, the Governor-General might disallow the Ordinance. Certain Ordinances, amongst which were those relating to divorce, disposal of Crown or native lands, native labour, the supply of arms, ammunition, explosives, intoxicants or opium to natives, could not be assented by the Administrator unless the Ordinance contained a clause suspending its operation until the Governor-General signified his pleasure thereon.

An Ordinance reserved for the Governor-General's pleasure could not have any force unless and until within one year from the date on which it was presented to the Administrator for the Governor-General's assent, the Administrator publishes within the Territory a notification that it had received the Governor-General's assent.

There were two levels of subordinating or amending legislation. Both are listed in chronological order by the date they were signed and also the date they were published in the Papua Government Gazette. The senior pieces of this type of legislation were called Regulations, Rules and By-Laws. The second group were called Proclamations, Orders and Notices.

The basic postal legislation for the Territory of Papua were the Ordinances and adapted Acts. The following are noted:

Post and Telegraph Act of 1891 (Queensland, adopted)
Post and Telegraph Act 1901 (Commonwealth, adopted)
Post and Telegraph Ordinance of 1907 No. 5, 1907
Post and Telegraph Ordinance, 1912 No.13
Post and Telegraph Ordinance, 1916 No. 11
Post and Telegraph Ordinance, 1920 No.19
Post and Telegraph Ordinance, 1924 No. 3
Post and Telegraph Ordinance, 1930 No. 11
Postal Rates (Defence Forces) Ordinance 1940 No. 2
Postal Rates (Defence Forces) Ordinance (No.2) 1940 No. 6
Postal and Telegraph Ordinance, 1941 No. 14

During the period of administration by the Australian Colonies on behalf of Great Britain, the Post Office was operated under the 1891 Queensland Post and Telegraph Act. On Federation, this Queensland Act was supplanted by the adoption of the 1901 Commonwealth Post and Telegraph Act. The Territory received its own legislation in the Ordinance of 1907. The 1912 revision of this Ordinance formed the basis of Post Office operations in the Territory until the cessation of civilian administration in early 1942.

The commencement of WW II saw the need for a separate ordinance to cover special rates of postage for mail to or from members of the Defence Forces. This legislation followed the Australian Act of similar title that was passed in November 1939. The Territory Ordinance provided for a 1d rate for surface letters and postcards and a special scale for parcels for members of the permanent forces and the militia.

A second level of subordinate legislation is "Regulations, Rules and By-Laws" which give detail or expand specific areas of Acts and Ordinances. From 1916, each Regulation, Rule or By-Law was numbered sequentially within its year of issue. Two sets of Regulations were enacted on December 27, 1923 that gave detailed instructions on the operations of the postal service. The first dealt with the parcel post as well as custom duties on parcels. The second dealt with a wide range of postal matters including definitions of mail classes, range and availability of postal services, prohibitions and penalties.

The lowest level of legislation were the Proclamations, Orders and Notices. These were used as a mechanism for announcing the implementation of new or revised Ordinances or for fixing new rates of postage. The Order in Council on July 2, 1892 was an exception as it dealt with the Colony joining the UPU.

Extracted from “British New Guinea and Papua Postal Acts 1888-1945” which is available from the stamps AU shop.