3-071-278 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Hoisting the British Flag in New Guinea: Mr. H. M. Chester, Queensland Magistrate, calling for cheers, from a photograph taken on the spot by the Rev. W. G. Lawes, 1883. 'The proceedings of an agent of the Queensland Colonial Government, some three months ago, upon the coast of Papua or New Guinea, are now officially declared to be null and void...Our Illustration, nevertheless, of "a ceremony, purporting to be an annexation of New Guinea," which was performed by Mr. H. M. Chester, the magistrate of Thursday Island in Torres Strait, acting under the orders of the Government of Queensland, is not without interest. Mr. Chester was accompanied by the captain of the small mission steam-boat Ellangowan, and by the Rev. W. G. Lawes and the Rev. J. Chalmers, missionaries, who are well acquainted with the native people on that part of the south coast of New Guinea; while the chief of the tribe living in the neighbourhood of Port Moresby, with his family, kinsmen and servants, was also present, freely consenting to the proclamation of British sovereignty...Mr. Chester, standby the flag-post, called for three cheers for Queen Victoria, immediately before the British flag was hoisted'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.