Recollections of ANGAU (Grahamslaw, Thomas; PX123, Major)

Typed manuscript, 'Recollections of ANGAU', by Thomas Grahamslaw (PX123, Major).

The manuscript describes the service of Thomas Grahamslaw as part of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU). Grahamslaw was Collector of Customs, Shipping Master and Postmaster at Samarai prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. It is an extensive description of the administrative and operational events Grahamslaw participated in, and includes general historical descriptions of ANGAU. Based in Port Moresby, Grahamslaw's narrative also describes his extensive travels through New Guinea. For his ANGAU service he was awarded OBE.

Civil government in Papua ceased on 14 February 1942, and, after interim measures, the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit was formed on 21 March 1942 as the military administration of the Australian Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea. It supplanted the civil administration for the duration of the Pacific war. ANGAU carried on the civil tasks of maintaining law and medical services in areas not occupied by the Japanese, but it was responsible to New Guinea Force and its major task was to marshal the resources of land and people for the war effort against the Japanese. Many ANGAU officers came from the pre-war administrations. ANGAU administration of New Guinea ceased in June 1946.