In the hoist, it depicts the Southern Cross; in the fly, a Raggiana bird-of-paradise is silhouetted.

Red and black have long been traditional colours of many Papua New Guinean tribes.

Black-white-red was the colour of the German Empire flag, which had colonised New Guinea prior to 1918.

[citation needed] Prior to independence, the Australian administration proposed a vertical tricolour flag with blue, yellow and green bands, along with the bird of paradise and southern cross, designed by Hal Holman.

[3] It had a mainly negative reception, due to its appearance as that of a "mechanically contrived outcome", thus an alternate version attributed to 15-year old schoolgirl Susan Karike was chosen instead.