In the three decades following the Second World War, Australian assistance to Papua New Guinea (PNG) comprised around eighty per cent of the Australian “aid” budget. By the 1960s, this expenditure was part of a foreign aid budget that came closest to reaching the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI). This has led many observers of contemporary Australian policy to reflect on the 1960s as a time of Australian generosity in the field of foreign aid.

Examining this history through the prism of Australian colonial policy complicates the story of Australian generosity. While a significant proportion of the Australian grant to PNG was developmental in nature, it is inappropriate to portray the entire amount as “aid”. This paper examines the intersection between Australian colonial policy in PNG and foreign aid, tracing inter-departmental debates over the true meaning of Australian colonial expenditure. Commonwealth policymakers generally sought to ensure that Australian expenditure appeared as generous as possible to an international audience. By examining these inter-departmental debates, I will demonstrate that Australian foreign aid generosity was undermined by the imperatives of colonial administration, thereby complicating the history of Australia’s relations with the developing world.