Building a nation: Papua New Guinea’s 50 years of independence

Papua New Guinea achieved independence from Australia in September 1975. Photograph: Adam Parata

In the early 1970s, Dame Meg Taylor remembers a sense of immense optimism as Papua New Guinea stood on the brink of independence. At that time she joined the staff of Sir Michael Somare, who would later become the country’s first prime minister.

“There was a lot of hope,” said Taylor, diplomat and former secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum.