16th September 2024
Papua New Guinea celebrates its 49th Independence Day anniversary this 2024.
Join in the festivities by wearing our Papua New Guinea flag colors – red, white, yellow and black.
Official Independence Day anniversary activities begins with the ‘Flag Raising Ceremony’ at Independence Hill, near the National Parliament House in Port Moresby. Residents and visitors in Port Moresby gather at dawn to witness government officials raise PNG’s national flag to commemorate the country’s independence in 1975.
Papua New Guinea’s history was marred by colonial imperialism since its discovery by European traders. Colonial PNG was known as ‘Papua’ and ‘New Guinea’ – both were a combined territory of Australia since 1906. The territory of ‘Kaiser-Wilhelmsland’ was surrendered to Australia and British rule after World War One, and renamed as ‘New Guinea’ – all the names of the German ruled islands were also changed, e.g. New Britain, New Ireland, etc. Visit our National Museum & Art Gallery to learn more about our fascinating history.
