Decolonisation of Oceania explained

The decolonisation of Oceania occurred after World War II when nations in Oceania achieved independence by transitioning from European colonial rule to full independence.

While most of the countries of Oceania have a specific independence day, the independence of Australia and the independence of New Zealand were a gradual process and cannot be associated clearly with a specific date. Most of the British colonies in Australia gained responsible government in the 1850s, as did New Zealand in 1856. This was formalised into Dominion status in the 1900s, but with the United Kingdom retaining certain (disused) powers de jure. Although they were de facto sovereign states by the 1920s, Australia and New Zealand refused the formal recognition of their full sovereignty when offered through the Statute of Westminster in 1931, before accepting it respectively in 1942 and 1947.

Oceania continues to include a number of dependent territories controlled by colonial powers. The United Nations list of non-self-governing territories includes six Oceanian territories – the French dependencies of French Polynesia and New Caledonia, the American territories of American Samoa and Guam, the British dependency of Pitcairn Islands, and the New Zealand territory of Tokelau.

Timeline

Timeline of decolonising Oceania

Country	Colonial name	Colonial power^[1]	Independence date^[2]	First head of state^[3]	Independence won through
	Dominion of New Zealand		data-sort-value="1900-00-00"	20th century	–	gradual process
^[4]	Australia		data-sort-value="1900-00-01"	20th century	–	gradual process
^[5]			data-sort-value="1949-12-27"	27 December 1949 (East Indies) 1 May 1963 (New Guinea)^[6]	Sukarno	Indonesian National Revolution
	Trust Territory		data-sort-value="1962-01-01"	1 January 1962	Malietoa Tanumafili II and Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Mea'ole^[7]	peaceful campaign by the Mau movement
	Nauru Trust Territory	^[8]	data-sort-value="1968-01-31"	31 January 1968	Hammer DeRoburt	peaceful campaign
	Kingdom of Tonga		data-sort-value="1970-06-04"	4 June 1970	Taufaʻahau Tupou IV	request
^[9]	Kingdom of FijiColony of Fiji		data-sort-value="1970-10-10"	5 June 187113 August 187710 October 1970^[10]	Seru Epenisa Cakobau (Kingdom of Fiji) Kamisese Mara^[11] (Prime Minister: head of gov.)	British initiative, and negotiation
	German New Guinea Territory of New Guinea Trust Territory of Papua and New Guinea	^[12]	data-sort-value="1975-09-16"	16 September 1975	Michael Somare (Prime Minister: head of gov.)	Australian initiative
	British Solomon Islands		data-sort-value="1978-07-07"	7 July 1978	Peter Kenilorea (Prime Minister: head of gov.)	British initiative
			data-sort-value="1978-10-01"	1 January 19761 October 197812 July 1979	Toaripi Lauti (Prime Minister: head of gov.)	British initiative
			data-sort-value="1979-07-12"	1 January 19761 October 197812 July 1979	Ieremia Tabai	British initiative
	New Hebrides	^[13]	data-sort-value="1980-07-30"	30 July 19801 August 1980	George Kalkoa	peaceful campaign by the New Hebrides National Party
			data-sort-value="1986-10-21"	2 September 194521 October 1986	Amata Kabua	ongoing Compact of Free Association with United States
			data-sort-value="1986-11-03"	2 September 19453 November 1986	Tosiwo Nakayama	ongoing Compact of Free Association with United States
			data-sort-value="1994-10-01"	2 September 194525 May 1994 (de facto) 1 October 1994 (de jure)	Kuniwo Nakamura	ongoing Compact of Free Association with United States
	Cook Islands		data-sort-value="2100-00-00"	4 August 1965 1992^[14]	Albert Henry (Prime Minister: head of gov.) Geoffrey Henry (Prime Minister: head of gov.)	ongoing free association with New Zealand
	Niue		data-sort-value="2100-00-01"	19 October 1974 1994^[15]	Robert Rex (Premier: head of gov.) Frank Lui (Premier: head of gov.)	ongoing free association with New Zealand

Stages of decolonisation

Country	Date of current form of government	Birth of current form of government	Date of acquisition of sovereignty	Acquisition of sovereignty	Date of territorial modification	Most recent significant territorial modification
Australia		Commonwealth of Australia established as a federation.		Federation of Australia – Formation of the Commonwealth of Australia by six separate British self-governing colonies		Papua New Guinea becomes formally independent from Australia
				Statute of Westminster adopted – Britain loses the power to legislate for Australia except by request
				Australia Act 1986 – Remaining legal ties between Britain aгd Australia are abolished, including the ability for the UK to legislate with effect in Australia
Fiji				Independence from the United Kingdom
Kiribati				Independence from the United Kingdom		Separation of the Gilbert Islands (later Kiribati) and the Ellice Islands (later Tuvalu)
Marshall Islands		Constitution and a local government established		Compact of Free Association with the United States
		Constitution ratified		Compact of Free Association with the United States		Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae unite to form the Federated States of Micronesia
Nauru				Independence from UN Trusteeship (Australian, British and New Zealand administration ends)
New Zealand		Treaty of Waitangi where the British Crown established a right to govern from indigenous Māori tribes^[16]		Self-Government		Samoa becomes fully independent from New Zealand. It is also the first small-island country in the Pacific to become independent.
				Responsible Government
				Granted nominal independence (Dominion status).
				Balfour Declaration of 1926 — Great Britain and the Dominions are “autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs”
				Governor-General ceases to represent the British Government and becomes the personal representative of the King.
				Statute of Westminster adopted — Britain loses the power to legislate for New Zealand except by request
				Full power to amend own constitution
				Governor-General becomes a New Zealand appointment
				Commencement of the Constitution Act 1986 — Removed the ability of the British Parliament to pass laws for New Zealand with the consent of the New Zealand Parliament.
Palau		Republic of Palau created upon the adoption of a constitution		Emerged from United Nations trusteeship (administered by the United States).
Papua New Guinea				Self-governing territory
				Independence from Australia
Samoa				Independence from New Zealand
Solomon Islands				Self-government granted by the United Kingdom
				Independence from the United Kingdom
Tonga				Independence from the United Kingdom		Unification of what is now the islands of Tonga by George Tupou I of Tonga
Tuvalu		Separation of Gilbert Islands (later Kiribati) and Ellice Islands (later Tuvalu)		Independence from the United Kingdom		Treaty with United States recognizing Tuvaluan control over Funafuti, Nukufetau, Nukulaelae, and Niulakita atolls
Vanuatu				Independence from joint British-French condominium

Oceania

This is a list of all present sovereign states in Oceania^[17] and their predecessors. The region of Oceania is generally defined geographically to include the subregions of Australasia,^[18] Melanesia,^[19] Micronesia and Polynesia, and their respective sovereign states. Oceania was originally colonised by Europeans with Australia and New Zealand primarily by the British, and the Pacific Islands primarily by the British, French and Dutch. Today, Oceania consists of fourteen sovereign states of various government types, the most common consisting of parliamentary systems.

See also

• Current United Nations list of non-self-governing territories
• Current list of dependent territories
• Colonialism
• Colonisation of Australia
• Colonisation of New Zealand
• Decolonisation
• Indigenous peoples of Oceania
• Wars of national liberation
• Māori people
• Aboriginal Australians
• Aboriginal Tasmanians

Notes and References

1. Some territories changed hands multiple times, so in the list is mentioned the last colonial power. In addition to it, the mandatory or trustee powers are mentioned for territories that were League of Nations mandates and UN Trust Territories.
2. Date of decolonization for territories annexed by or integrated into previously decolonized independent countries are given in separate notes, as are dates when a commonwealth realm abolished its monarchy. Any discrepancies between dates listed here and public holidays celebrating the country's independence (and whether the date listed is celebrated as a holiday at all) are noted, as well as the national day if the country does not have an independence day.
3. First head of state after independence. For current and former Commonwealth realms instead of the first head of state is listed as the first head of government.
4. Many Indigenous Australians and supporters of the Australian Indigenous sovereignty movement would contest the status of Australia as decolonised, noting that neither colonial Britain nor the subsequent Commonwealth of Australia ever signed a treaty with any of the hundreds of distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies that existed prior to colonisation and still exist today. See:
   Web site: Decolonisation: to be or not to be included in the Constitution?. Michael Anderson. Ghillar. 15 June 2015. Sovereign Union. ;
   Web site: Listen up: decolonisation is a collective effort by all Australians. Zoe. Taylor. 5 December 2017. Curtin University. ;
   Web site: Decolonisation: What does it mean for me?. Jens. Korff. 5 September 2021. Creative Spirits. ;
   Web site: What is decolonising Australia?. Barayamal. 6 January 2023.
5. Transcontinental country, partially located in Asia.
6. Not celebrated as a holiday. Netherlands New Guinea was separated from the Dutch East Indies on 29 December 1949. Following skirmishes with Indonesia in 1961 and the New York Agreement, the Netherlands transferred the authority of Dutch New Guinea to a UN protectorate on 1 October 1962 and it was integrated into Indonesia on 1 May 1963. The date 17 August 1945 (when Sukarno formally proclaimed Indonesia's independence) is celebrated as Indonesia's date of independence.
7. Joint position known as O Ao o le Malo, whose individuals are severally referred to as O le Ao o le Malo.
8. As a League of Nations mandate and later UN Trust Territory Nauru was under effective Australian administration with the United Kingdom and New Zealand as nominal co-trustees.
9. As the Dominion of Fiji.
10. Celebrated as Fiji Day. (While Fiji does not have a holiday called Independence Day, Fiji Day is celebrated as such). On 7 October 1987 after two military coups, Fiji formally abolished its Commonwealth monarchy and became a republic.
11. Having been out of office since 13 April 1987, on 5 December Mara was sworn in along with Penaia Ganilau as Prime Minister and President respectively. From the abolition of Fiji's monarchy to Mara's and Ganilau's inauguration, Sitiveni Rabuka served as Head of the Interim Military Government.
12. The main part of German New Guinea after the World War I became a League of Nations mandate and later a UN Trust Territory as the Territory of New Guinea under Australian administration. The Territory of Papua was a British colony transferred to the British Dominion of Australian administration in 1902.
13. Vanuatu was a joint British-French Condominium
14. Since 4 August 1965 the Cook Islands are a state in free association with New Zealand. The UN recognized them as a state under international law in 1992 . The Cook Islands are fully independent in their foreign relations and defence, but retain a residual constitutional link with New Zealand concerning citizenship.
15. Since 19 October 1974 Niue is a state in free association with New Zealand. The UN recognized it as a state under international law in 1994 . Niue is fully independent in its foreign relations and defence but retains a residual constitutional link with New Zealand concerning citizenship.
16. Book: Finlayson, Christopher. 20 March 2024 . 978-1-77550-615-7. 14. Huia Publishers . English. 1238026659.
17. Web site: United Nations Statistics Division – Countries of Oceania . Millenniumindicators.un.org . 2009-04-17 . 13 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110713041240/http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#oceania . dead .
18. The use and scope of this term varies. The UN designation for this subregion is "Australia and New Zealand."
19. Excludes parts of Indonesia, island territories in Southeast Asia (UN region) frequently reckoned in this region.