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.
Geography of Papua New Guinea divides the island of New Guinea. Across the 820 km (509 mi) border, the western half of New Guinea is officially known as Papua province, governed by Indonesia. Papua New Guinea's border with Indonesia is not straight; the border loops slightly to the west in the south-central part of New Guinea. Papua New Guinea's Western Province contains that loop. There are maritime borders with Australia to the south and Solomon Islands to the southeast. Papua New Guinea has a total area of 462 840 km², of which 452 860 km² is land and 9 980 km² is water. Its coastline