Papua New Guinea: Political Parties and Pressure Groups Material

Pamphlets, leaflets, manifestos, constitutions, posters and miscellaneous election materials from 1961 onwards issued by the All Peoples Party of Papua and New Guinea, the Papua New Guinea United Party (Pangu), the People's Progress Party (Papua New Guinea), the United Party (Papua New Guinea), the United Progress Party (Papua New Guinea), the Voters Manifesto Committee (Papua New Guinea) and the Voters Rights Action Group (Papua New Guinea). The majority of the materials held here date either from the early 1960s or from the first election in 1977, although there are also items produced by later pressure groups complaining about the lack of control of voters over the formation of governments given the country's weak party system and the predilection of members to change parties following elections. The independence struggles of Bougainville Island in the 1970s and 1990s are also mentioned.

In 1946 Papua and New Guinea were combined to form the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, administered by Australia under the aegis of the United Nations. The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of political parties such as the All People's Party (APP) and gradual moves towards increasing self-government, a trend hastened in 1972 by the election of the pro-independence Michael Somare of the Papua New Guinea United Party (Pangu). He presided over independence in 1975 and won the first elections after this in 1977.

Alphabetically by organisation, and then in rough chronological order.

Open to all for research purposes; access is free for anyone in higher education.

Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Records at item level on library catalogue (SASCAT)

Description compiled by Daniel Millum, Political Archives Project Officer at the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies.

Copies can usually be obtained - apply to library staff.

The Commonwealth Political Parties Materials collection was begun in 1960-61, with special emphasis being placed then, as now, on "primary material such as party constitutions, policy statements, convention reports and election manifestos." (ICS, Twelfth Annual Report 1960-1961). Since then, the main method of gathering material has been to appeal directly to political parties throughout the Commonwealth, though contributions from Institute members and staff following visits to relevant countries have been significant. More recently material has been collected by means of downloading documents from the websites of the major parties.

Further accruals are expected, some in electronic form.

See also Political Party, Trades Unions and Pressure Group Materials for other Commonwealth countries and related material in the library's main classified sequence, all held at the ICS.