Flag of Papua New Guinea

Uncommon card · No. 174597

The flag of Papua New Guinea was adopted on 1 July 1971. In the hoist, it depicts the Southern Cross; in the fly, a Raggiana bird-of-paradise is silhouetted. Red and black have long been traditional colours of many Papua New Guinean tribes. Black-white-red was the colour of the German Empire flag, which had colonised New Guinea prior to 1918. The bird-of-paradise is also found on the national coat-of-arms. The Southern Cross is a common symbol on the flags of countries in the Southern Hemisphere, where the constellation can be seen. Prior to independence, the Australian administration proposed a vertical tricolour flag with blue, yellow and green bands, along with the bird-of-paradise and southern cross, designed by Hal Holman. The blue was said to represent the sea and islands of New Guinea, the Southern Cross was a guide for the traveling peoples, the gold represented the coastlines, mineral wealth, and unity, and the green represented the forested highlands and mainland, with the Bird...

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