John Douglas, along with many other prominent Australians, had long had an interest in this large island to their north. [1] In 1875, he urged the Queensland parliament to annex New Guinea ,[2] and, shortly after becoming premier, wrote to both the Queensland governor and the New South Wales premier seeking their support for Britain to annex the coast of New Guinea not already claimed by the Dutch, as well as those islands in the Torres Straits not already part of Queensland New Guinea coast and report to him,[4] and he also appointed William Bairstow Ingham as a government agent of the colony and gold fields warden in New Guinea Britain , however, was lukewarm to any annexation, sceptical of the claim that other foreign powers were interested in the island, but it did appoint a high commissioner for the Western Pacific,[6] while the northern and eastern islands in the Torres Straits were subsequently incorporated into Queensland
Douglas’s successor, Thomas McIlwraith, held similar views to Douglas. On 24 February 1883, he dispatched a cable to London instructing his agent-general to urge Lord Derby, the British colonial secretary, to “annex New Guinea to Queensland.”[8] Without waiting for a reply, McIlwraith then instructed Henry Chester to sail from Thursday Island to New Guinea to annex the eastern portion of New Guinea.[9] On 4 April 1883 Chester duly raised the British flag in Port Moresby and formally annexed eastern New Guinea to Queensland.[10]
The reason given by McIlwraith for this decision was that he feared Germany was preparing to annex the island.[11] Another, unstated reason was the desire to recruit New Guineans for the Queensland labour trade.[12] As the Queensland governor later informed the Colonial Office in a confidential memorandum:
It is useless to disguise from ourselves the fact that in Australia the black races are regarded much in the same light as the African Negroes were regarded by the Jamaica planters a hundred years ago; and not much doubt is entertained by those who know most about the matter that the annexation of New Guinea was intended to supply black labour for the sugar planters.[13]
This unauthorised annexation of New Guinea was enthusiastically supported by the various Australian colonies,[14] but the British took a very different position, ostensibly disallowing the annexation because it would not be regarded as a friendly act by rival powers.[15] Moreover, they were alarmed by what had taken place, considering it, “very cocky” and the actions of a “cheeky young colony.”[16]
The official British position was not supported by the majority of its own citizens.[17] It was also resented by many in Australia,[18] leading McIlwraith to call for the establishment of the first Australian Intercolonial Convention[19] held in Sydney in November and December 1883.[20] This inaugural convention, with the new premier, Griffith, as the Queensland representative following a change of government in this colony, strongly endorsed McIlwraith’s action and urged the British government to act immediately to make New Guinea part of the British Empire.[21] It was now increasingly evident that Britain would formally have to intervene in New Guinea on behalf of Queensland and the other Australasian colonies, one way or another.[22]
[1] For example, in 1874 the New South Wales premier, Sir Henry Parkes, urged the British to colonise New Guinea Australia in New Guinea
[2] “Annexation of New Guinea Queensland ’s Annexationist Ambitions in New Guinea University of Queensland , 1968, pp. 26-27; Wilson
[3] John Douglas to the Colonial Secretary, NSW, 28 April 1877 . “A Circular ‘Secret’ Despatch Relative to the Annexation of New Guinea Queensland State 29 April 1877 . Queensland State Torres Strait Boundary Report by the Sub Committee on Territorial Boundaries of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. Volume Ii. Appendix Ix to the Report, Historical Documents Relating to the Maritime Boundary of Queensland Canberra
[4] Henry Marjoribanks Chester. Narrative of Expeditions to New Guinea
[5] John Douglas to W. B. Ingham, 1 June 1878 . Queensland State North Queensland to 1920. Canberra , Australian National University Queensland
[6] Paul W van der Veur. Search for New Guinea’s Boundaries: From Torres Strait to the Pacific. Canberra , Australian National University
[7] Douglas (1884), p. 859. The relevant correspondence is reproduced throughout the Torres Strait Boundary Report by the Sub Committee on Territorial Boundaries of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. Volume II. Appendix IX to the Report, Historical Documents Relating to the Maritime Boundary of Queensland Canberra , Government Printer, 1976, and in “The New Maritime Boundary of Queensland Queensland Queensland and the Torres Strait .” In, Lectures in North Queensland History. Townsville, James Cook University Queensland , in August 1879 (Queensland Coast Islands Act 1879), Douglas was no longer premier.
[8] Moore (1984), p. 40; Peter Overlack. “Queensland
[9] Moore
[10] Ibid., p. 26; Veur (1966A), p. 15; “The Annexation of New Guinea Queensland Steve Mullins has pointed out, McIlwraith later indicated that he was more concerned that New Guinea be in British or Australian hands rather than under Queensland Steve Mullins . “Queensland ’s Quest for Torres Strait : The Delusion of Inevitability.” Journal of Pacific History vol 27 no 2, 1991, p. 166)
[11] Veur (1966A), p. 15; Bernays, p. 92; Overlack, pp. 130 & 133
[12] Moore
[13] Governor Musgrave to the Secretary of State fro the Colonies, 13 January 1886 . In, Further Correspondence Respecting New Guinea and Other Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean , pp. 176-77 (Australian no 112a)
[14] Bernays, p. 93; Conley, pp. 430-32; Overlack, p. 133. Douglas , for his part, viewed the annexation as an “exciting demonstration that will be recorded in our history as a dashing exploit carried out at the instigation of one who had a comprehensive grasp of the situation.” (Douglas (1884), p. 859)
[15] Overlack, p. 133; Luke Trainor. British Imperialism and Australian Nationalism: Manipulation, Conflict and Compromise in the Late Nineteenth Century. Cambridge , Cambridge University Germany , and Lord Derby was, “perpetrating a bargain … with Bismark which [would] give the Germans their slice of New Guinea , and gave Great Britain a free hand in Egypt Australia and New Guinea Victoria 13 June 1883 , Cabinet Reports by Prime Minister of the Crown. National Library of Australia
[16] Edward Robert Drury (Queensland agent-general in London 20 April 1883 . McIlwraith / Palmer Papers. John Oxley Library , State Library of Queensland , OM 64-19/158
[17] Ibid.
[18] Overlack, p. 133; Douglas (1884), p. 860
[19] Alexander C. V. Melbourne. “The Relations between Australia and New Guinea
[20] Overlack, pp. 133-34
[21] Veur (1966A), p. 16; “Intercolonial Convention, 1883: Report of the Proceedings of the Intercolonial Convention held in Sydney Queensland
[22] As the Queensland New Guinea 20 April 1883 . McIlwraith / Palmer Papers. John Oxley Library , State Library of Queensland , OM 64-19/158)
