Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary

The Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary as it was known resulted from the amalgamation in 1942 of the Royal Papua Constabulary and the New Guinea Police Force.The Royal Papua Constabulary originated in1891 when the first Police Force in the Territory of Papua was formed by the Lieutenant Governor Sir William Macgregor.The Force was then know British armed Constabulary and in its initial stages consisted of twelve Solomon’s islanders with two Fijian commissioned officers.In the first years thirteen Papuans were recruited against much opposition by local residents who considered the local inhabitants far too primitive to be suited for that form of employment.At the outset the Armed Constabulary was used primarily for escorting patrols and duties involving the extension of Government influence.With the development of towns and gold mining actives, however , it naturally evolved that members were required to perform actual police duties and in fact, were showing aptitude for them.Over the years more and more Papuans were recruited into the force, until, 1898 there were 110 members. By 1912 the strength was increased to 250 and by 1939 there were 300 Papuan’s in the Armed Constabulary. There uniform was very similar to the traditional sulu and jumper which was only discarded in 30^th September 1964 The RPC was known for the historic use of Police Motu, a lingua franca pidgin variant of the Motu language. During the colonial period, personnel needed to effectively administer the colony were scarce, so the colonial government recruited constables from the various Papua New Guinean peoples and nearby islands such as Fiji and the Solomon Islands. These recruits may have spoken any of about 700–800 different indigenous languages. To aid in communication, a common language was needed and the Police Motu pidgin arose. In recognition of the long and meritorious of the indigenous Police service of the Government His Majesty King George V1 in 1939 assented to the prefix “Royal” being granted to the Force which them became known as the the Royal Papua Constabulary.

In New Guinea shortly before 1914, the German Administration had a police force of a complement of approximately 1.000 New Guinea Locals.The German force was trained by regular Army officers at Rabaul (which was the German Administration HQ) and its function consisted mainly of taking punitive action against tribes which either attacked their administration or resisted their expansion. The dress of the members of the German New Guinea Police Force was a blue serrated lap-lap with a white belt and a white sailor type hat. The New Guinea Police Force was taken over by The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) from the German Administration in 1914 with the defeat on the Germans at the Battle of Bita Paka on New Britain known in the German as Neu-Pommern as part Kaiser-Wilhelmsland.

In 1921 the New Guinea Police Force was reorganized upon the commencement of the activities of the Australian Civil Administration. It was not until1930 that a modern Police Force was established in the territory of New Guinea by Colonel J Walstad DSO who became its Superintendent