Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea is a province of the Anglican Communion. It was created in 1976 when the Province of Papua New Guinea became independent from the Province of Queensland in the Church of England in Australia (officially renamed the Anglican Church of Australia in 1981) following Papua New Guinea's independence in 1975. The first Archbishop and Primate of Papua New Guinea was David Hand, the Bishop of Port Moresby. Succeeding Primates were also as a diocesan bishops until the consecration of Joseph Kopapa, who was Primate from 2010 to 2012.
History of Papua New Guinea a major campaign of the Pacific War. In all, some 200,000 Japanese soldiers, sailors and airmen died during the campaign against approximately 7,000 Australian and 7,000 American service personnel. Australian naval vessels have arrived in Papua New Guinea to protect leaders at a summit of Pacific Rim nations next week,giving foretaste of the newly elevated defence relationship between the two neighbors. Following the surrender of the Japanese in 1945, civil administration of Papua as well as New Guinea was restored, and under the Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act, (1945–46), Papua and New Guinea were combined in an administrative union.