Saturday 22 October 2016

By Voter Samson


Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, just north of Australia, and many outlying islands. The first inhabitants of the island New Guinea were Papuan, Melanesian, and Negrito tribes, who altogether spoke more than 700 distinct languages.

The eastern half of New Guinea was first explored by Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the 16th century. In 1828, the Dutch formally took possession of the western half of the island.

Later the colonial administration developed a vertical tricolor of blue-yellow-green as a possible future national flag. The Southern Cross appeared in the form of five white stars on the hoist stripe, and a white silhouette bird-of-paradise was represented on the green stripe. The stars were reminiscent of those in the Australian national flag.

The flag of Papua New Guinea consists of two diagonal triangular sections - the left section is black and the right section is red. Five, five-pointed, white stars representing the Southern Cross are in the black portion of the flag; while a yellow bird of paradise is in the red section.

The flag background was changed radically: two colors, red and black, were chosen because they are featured extensively in local art and clothing. The diagonal division gave better balance to the design and made the flag unique. The national parliament recognized the flag on March 11, 1971, and its usage was extended to ships registered in Papua New Guinea when the country became independent on September 16, 1975.

There is a barrage of cheap and inferior Papua New Guinea flags being imported and sold, that do not comply with the flag statute. This is bad for a number of reasons. Imported flags are cheaply made and more importantly, the designs, materials, colors, and methods of printing do not compare well with the better quality, longer-lasting, and correctly designed flag. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of Papua New Guinean flag for the future.




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