Portal:New Guinea

The Porgera Gold Mine is a large gold and silver mining operation near Porgera, Enga province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Located at the head of the Porgera Valley, The mine is situated in the rain forest covered highlands at an altitude of 2,200 to 2,700 m, in a region of high rainfall, landslides, and frequent earthquakes.

The Porgera Gold Mine closed in April 2020, following the end of its special mining lease. Extensive negotiations for a new special mining lease were concluded in 2023 and the reopening of the mine was announced in December 2023, with first production expected in the first quarter of 2024.

The new special mining lease was finally issued to New Porgera Limited, an entity 51% owned by PNG stakeholders (including state-owned Kumul Minerals Holdings Limited, local landowners and the Enga provincial government), and 49% by Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL), itself a joint venture between Barrick Gold and Zijin Mining of China. (Full article...)

The Kokoda Track or Trail is a single-file foot thoroughfare that runs 96 kilometres (60 mi) overland – 60 kilometres (37 mi) in a straight line – through the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The track was the location of the 1942 World War II battle between Japanese and Allied – primarily Australian – forces in what was then the Australian territory of Papua.

The track runs from Owers' Corner in Central Province, 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Port Moresby, across rugged and isolated terrain which is only passable on foot, to the village of Kokoda in Oro Province. It reaches a height of 2,490 metres (8,169 ft) as it passes around the peak of Mount Bellamy. The track travels primarily through the land of the Mountain Koiari people.

Hot, humid days with intensely cold nights, torrential rainfall and the risk of endemic tropical diseases such as malaria make it a challenging trek. Hiking the trail normally takes between four and twelve days; the fastest recorded time is 16 hours 34 minutes. (Full article...)

Daru Island is an island in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the Torres Strait Islands. The eponymous town on the island is the capital of the province, and houses the vast majority of the island's population of 20,524 (2009). Daru Island is elliptical in shape, with dimensions of 5.0 by 3.7 kilometers, an area of 14.7 km², and an elevation of up to 27 m. The island is separated from the mainland in the north, specifically the mouth of Oriomo River, by the 3.5 km wide Daru Roads. The shortest distance to the larger Bristow Island (also called Bobo Island) in the south is 1.3 km.

Daru Island is one of the few Torres Strait Islands that do not belong to Australia, but to Papua New Guinea. It is also the most highly populated of the Torres Strait Islands, although scarcely any original Torres Strait Islanders live on the island. The main industry on the island is fishing although few fisheries are locally owned. The island has an international airport which is mainly used by Australian aircraft chartered by mining companies for customs clearance or to pick up jet fuel. Commercial flights service Daru Airport four days per week. (Full article...)

The Battle of Bita Paka (11 September 1914) was fought south of Kabakaul, on the island of New Britain, and was a part of the invasion and subsequent occupation of German New Guinea by the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. Similar to New Zealand's operation against German Samoa in August, the main target of the operation was a strategically important wireless station—one of several used by the German East Asia Squadron—which the Australians believed to be located in the area. The powerful German naval fleet threatened British interests and its elimination was an early priority of the British and Australian governments during the war.

After an unopposed landing, a mixed force of German reservists and half-trained Melanesian police mounted a stout resistance and forced the Australians to fight their way to the objective. After a day of fighting during which both sides suffered casualties, Australian forces captured the wireless station at Bita Paka. The battle was Australia's first major military engagement of the war and the only significant action of the campaign; in its aftermath the remaining German forces on New Britain fled inland to Toma. Following a brief siege there the German garrison capitulated, ending resistance to the Australian occupation of the island. (Full article...)

The eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis), often referred to as the common brown snake, is a species of extremely venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to eastern and central Australia and southern New Guinea. It was first described by André Marie Constant Duméril, Gabriel Bibron, and Auguste Duméril in 1854. The adult eastern brown snake has a slender build and can grow to 2 m (7 ft) in length. The colour of its surface ranges from pale brown to black, while its underside is pale cream-yellow, often with orange or grey splotches. The eastern brown snake is found in most habitats except dense forests, often in farmland and on the outskirts of urban areas, as such places are populated by its main prey, the house mouse. The species is oviparous. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the snake as a least-concern species, though its status in New Guinea is unclear.

It is considered the world's second-most venomous land snake after the inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus), based on its LD₅₀ value (subcutaneous) in mice. The main effects of its venom are on the circulatory system—coagulopathy, haemorrhage (bleeding), cardiovascular collapse, and cardiac arrest. One of the main components of the venom is the prothrombinase complex pseutarin-C, which breaks down prothrombin. (Full article...)

Puncak Trikora (literally "Peak People's Triple Command") is a 4,730 or 4,750-metre-high (15,584 ft) mountain in the Highland Papua province of Indonesia on New Guinea. It lies in the eastern part of the Sudirman (Nassau) Range of the Maoke Mountains.

Behind Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) at 4,884 m (16,024 ft), it is either the second or third highest mountain on the island of New Guinea and the Australasian continent. As such it appears on some Seven Second Summits lists, although SRTM-data support that Puncak Mandala (Juliana Peak) in the Jayawijaya (Orange) Range is higher with 4,760 m (15,617 ft). (Full article...)

Milne Bay is a province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Alotau. The province covers 14,345 km² of land and 252,990 km² of sea, within the province there are more than 600 islands, about 160 of which are inhabited. The province has about 276,000 inhabitants, speaking about 48 languages, most of which belong to the Eastern Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. Economically the province is dependent upon tourism, oil palm, and gold mining on Misima Island; in addition to these larger industries there are many small-scale village projects in cocoa and copra cultivation. The World War II Battle of Milne Bay took place in the province.

Culturally the Milne Bay region is sometimes referred to as the Massim, a term originating from the name of Misima Island. Massim societies are usually characterized by matrilineal descent, elaborate mortuary sequences and complex systems of ritual exchange including the Kula ring. From island group to island group and even between close lying islands, the local culture changes remarkably. What is socially acceptable on one island may not be so on another. (Full article...)

The Coral Triangle (CT) is a roughly triangular area in the tropical waters around Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. This area contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals in each ecoregion. The Coral Triangle is located between the Pacific and Indian oceans and encompasses portions of two biogeographic regions: the Indonesian-Philippines Region, and the Far Southwestern Pacific Region. As one of eight major coral reef zones in the world, the Coral Triangle is recognized as a global centre of marine biodiversity and a global priority for conservation. Its biological resources make it a global hotspot of marine biodiversity. Known as the "Amazon of the seas" (by analogy to the Amazon rainforest in South America), it covers 5.7 million square kilometres (2,200,000 sq mi) of ocean waters. It contains more than 76% of the world's shallow-water reef-building coral species, 37% of its reef fish species, 50% of its razor clam species, six out of seven of the world's sea turtle species, and the world's largest mangrove forest. The epicenter of that coral diversity is found in the Bird’s Head Seascape of Indonesian Papua, which hosts 574 species (95% of the Coral Triangle, and 72% of the world’s total). In 2014, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported that the gross domestic product of the marine ecosystem in the Coral Triangle is roughly $1.2 trillion per year and provides food to over 120 million people. According to the Coral Triangle Knowledge Network, the region annually brings in about $3 billion in foreign exchange income from fisheries exports, and another $3 billion from coastal tourism revenues.

The World Wide Fund for Nature considers the region a top priority for marine conservation, and is addressing ecological threats to the region through its Coral Triangle Program, launched in 2007. The center of biodiversity in the Triangle is the Verde Island Passage in the Philippines. Coral reef area in the region to have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site are Tubbataha Reef Natural Park in the Philippines and Raja Ampat UNESCO Global Geopark in Indonesia. (Full article...)

The great flying fox (Pteropus neohibernicus), also known as the greater flying fox or Bismarck flying fox, is a species of megabat in the genus Pteropus, found throughout lowland areas of New Guinea and in the Bismarck Archipelago. Conflicting evidence suggests that its closest relative is either the spectacled flying fox or, jointly, the Pelew and insular flying foxes. Two subspecies are recognized. At up to 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) in weight, it is among the heaviest bats in the world and the largest bat in Melanesia. It is a gregarious animal which roosts with hundreds or thousands of individuals. In part due to its wide variation in color, it has many taxonomic synonyms, including Pteropus degener, Pteropus papuanus, and Pteropus sepikensis. It may forage during the day or night in search of fruit, including figs or fruits from the family Sapotaceae. It is considered a least-concern species by the IUCN, though its numbers have been negatively impacted by what appeared to be a disease, as well as by hunting for bushmeat that occurs across its range. (Full article...)

The Ok Tedi Mine is an open-pit copper and gold mine in Papua New Guinea located near the headwaters of the Ok Tedi River, in the Star Mountains Rural LLG of the North Fly District of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.

The mine is operated by Ok Tedi Mining (OTM), which is majority-owned by the PNG Sustainable Development Program Limited (PNGSDPL). In 2013 it was nationalised by the Government of Papua New Guinea in controversial action. Prior to 2002, it was majority owned by BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world since a merger in 2001.

Located in a remote area of PNG, above 2,000 m (6,600 ft) on Mount Fubilan, in a region of high rainfall and frequent earthquakes, mine development posed serious challenges. The town of Tabubil was built to serve the mining operation. (Full article...)

Sir Julius Chan (29 August 1939 – 30 January 2025) was a Papua New Guinean politician who served as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1980 to 1982 and from 1994 to 1997. He was Member of Parliament for New Ireland Province, having won the seat in the 2007 national election. He was also the Governor of New Ireland Province from 2007 until his death in 2025. On 26 May 2019, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill announced he would soon resign and that he wished for Sir Julius to succeed him. An outgoing Prime Minister does not, however, have the power to appoint his successor, and the following day O'Neill delayed his own formal resignation. He was also a leading figure in his country during the years-long Bougainville conflict. (Full article...)

Jayapura (formerly Hollandia (1910-1962), Kota Baru (1962-1963), Soekarnopura (1963-1968)) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of Papua. It is situated on the northern coast of New Guinea island and covers an area of 940.0 km² (362.9 sq mi). The city borders the Pacific Ocean and Yos Sudarso Bay to the north, the country of Papua New Guinea to the east, Keerom Regency to the south, and Jayapura Regency to the west.

With a population of 398,478 according to the 2020 census, Jayapura is the most populous city in the entire island of New Guinea, surpassing Port Moresby, the national capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. During the 2010-2020 decade it was also the fastest-growing city in Indonesia, with the population increasing by 55.23% between 2010 and 2020. The official estimate as at mid 2023 was 414,862 (comprising 220,024 males and 194,838 females).

Jayapura is the fourth largest city by economy in Eastern Indonesia—after Makassar, Denpasar, and Manado—with an estimated 2016 GDP at Rp19.48 trillion. Jayapura has a very high Human Development Index (HDI) at 0.801. (Full article...)

Corruption in Papua New Guinea is rife.
According to The Economist, "PNG's governments are notorious for corruption, and ever run the risk of turning the state into a fully-fledged kleptocracy".

Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index scores 180 countries according to the perceived corruption of their public sector on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). Those countries are then ranked by their score; the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. In the 2024 Index, Papua New Guinea scored 31 and ranked 127th. For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Asia Pacific region was 84, the average score was 44 and the lowest score was 16. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).

Papua New Guinea is below the satisfactory levels set by the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), according to a report submitted by Transparency International Papua New Guinea (TIPNG) in 2011. TIPNG’s report found that in many cases, anti-corruption bodies in PNG were restricted by shortcomings in financial resources. (Full article...)

The Kaluli creation myth is a traditional creation myth of the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea. In the version as was recorded by anthropologist and ethnographer Edward L. Shieffelin whose first contact with them took place in the late 1960s. The story begins in a time the Kaluli call hena madaliaki, which translates "when the land came into form." During the time of hena madaliaki people covered the earth but there was nothing else: no trees or plants, no animals, and no streams. With nothing to use for food or shelter, the people became cold and hungry. Then one man among them (alternative accounts give two) gathered everyone together and delegated different tasks. He directed one group to become trees and they did. He directed another to become sago, yet another to be fish, another banana and so forth until the world was brimming with animals, food, streams, mountains and all other natural features. There were only a few people left and they became the ancestors of present-day human beings.

The Kaluli describe this story as "the time when everything alə bano ane" which means roughly "the time when everything divided". This concept of all world phenomena as a result of a "splitting" has many echos in Kaluli thought and cultural practices. In the Kaluli world view, all of existence is made from people who differentiated into different forms. Animals, plants, streams and people are all the same except in the form they have assumed following this great split. Death is another splitting. The Kaluli have no concept of a transcendent, sacred domain that is spiritual or in any fundamental way distinct from the natural, material world; instead death is another event that divides beings through the acquisition of new forms which are unrecognizable to the living.

The Kaluli are an indigenous people whose first contact with contemporary western civilization began in the 1940s. Following extensive Christian missionary efforts in the region, variants of the traditional creation story have adopted a few Christian elements. Prior to contact, the Kaluli story described creation as a pragmatic solution to problems of cold and hunger, and the efforts were initiated by one or two ordinary and unnamed men rather than any deity or deities. The Kaluli have since tended to identify one or both of them as "Godeyo" (God) and "Yesu" (Jesus Christ). (Full article...)

The New York Agreement, officially the Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands Concerning West New Guinea, is an agreement signed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Indonesia regarding the administration of the territory of Western New Guinea. The first part of the agreement proposes that the United Nations assume administration of the territory, and a second part proposes a set of social conditions that will be provided if the United Nations exercises a discretion proposed in article 12 of the agreement to allow Indonesian occupation and administration of the territory. Negotiated during meetings hosted by the United States, the agreement was signed on 15 August 1962 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, United States.

The agreement was added to the agenda of the 1962 United Nations General Assembly and precipitated General Assembly Resolution 1752 (XVII) granting the United Nations authority to occupy and administer West New Guinea. Although agreements are not able to negate obligations defined in the Charter of the United Nations, and the agreement asserted that it was for the benefit of the people of the territory, some people believed that the agreement was sacrificing the people of the territory for the benefit of the foreign powers.

A United States Department of State summary from 1962 asserts the "agreement was almost a total victory for Indonesia and a defeat for the Netherlands", that the United States "Bureau of European Affairs was sympathetic to the Dutch view that annexation by Indonesia would simply trade white for brown colonialism", and that "The underlying reason that the Kennedy administration pressed the Netherlands to accept this agreement was that it believed that Cold War considerations of preventing Indonesia from going Communist overrode the Dutch case." (Full article...)