Flag of Papua New Guinea
Encyclopedia
The flag of Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

 was adopted on July 1, 1971. In the hoist, it depicts the Southern Cross
Crux
Crux is the smallest of the 88 modern constellations, but is one of the most distinctive. Its name is Latin for cross, and it is dominated by a cross-shaped asterism that is commonly known as the Southern Cross.-Visibility:...

; in the fly, a raggiana bird of paradise
Raggiana Bird of Paradise
The Raggiana Bird-of-paradise, also known as Count Raggi's Bird-of-paradise, is a large bird in the bird-of-paradise family Paradisaeidae....

 is silhouetted. The designer of the flag was 15 year old schoolgirl Susan Huhume who won a nationwide competition for a new flag design in 1971.

Red and black have long been traditional colours of many Papua New Guinean tribes. Black-white-red was the colour of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

's flag, which had colonised New Guinea prior to 1918. The bird of paradise is also found on the national coat-of-arms
Coat of arms of Papua New Guinea
The national emblem of Papua New Guinea consists of a bird of paradise over a traditional spear and a kundu drum....

.

Prior to 1970, Papua New Guinea was known as the Australian Trust Territory of Papua and New Guinea, and its flag for sporting events was the bird of paradise on a green background. In 1970 the Australian Administration tried to introduce another flag, a vertical triband: blue at the hoist with the stars of the Southern Cross (Crux Australis) as in the Australian flag, then yellow, then green with the white bird of paradise in the fly.

Historical flags of Papua New Guinea






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