Who designed the national flag of Papua New Guinea?

Susan Karike designed the national flag of Papua New Guinea.

Karike was a 15-year-old student when she produced the design that became Papua New Guinea’s national flag. She retained the key ideas of a bird of paradise and the Southern Cross but replaced an earlier proposed blue, yellow, and green vertical design with a diagonal division and the traditional red, black, and yellow palette.

Her design emerged during a 1971 nationwide effort to choose a flag before independence. The red upper triangle carries a Raggiana bird-of-paradise, while the black lower triangle contains five stars forming the Southern Cross. The flag was formally adopted in 1971 and became the national flag at independence on 16 September 1975.

Some accounts mention Australian artist Hal Holman because he created an earlier government proposal. That design was not the final flag. The accepted designer is Susan Karike, also known after marriage as Susan Karike Huhume.