Susan Karike

Karike was born in Mei'i, Gulf District, Territory of Papua and New Guinea; her birth date was sometime between 12 April 1955 and 11 February 1956. On 12 February 1971, Karike's school — the Catholic Mission School at Yule Island in Central Province^[3][4] — was visited by the Selection Committee on Constitutional Development.^[3][5] The committee already had a preliminary design for a new flag for Papua New Guinea, which had been designed by an Australian artist, Hal Holman.^[4] Nevertheless, they asked students to create a new colour palette for the flag.^[3] Karike did not believe the original colours of blue, yellow and green were traditional enough,^[6] nor did she like the vertical stripes that the flag was split into.^[7] She used a diagonal line and the colours red, black and yellow, as well as keeping the motifs of the Southern Cross and the bird of paradise.^[5] The new design for the flag was drawn in a page torn from her exercise book.^[8] This design was presented to the committee on 1 March 1971 and was formally adopted as the flag of Papua New Guinea on 4 March 1971.^[5]

In 2017, the Papua New Guinea National Museum & Art Gallery was redeveloped and a new gallery was named the Susan Karike Gallery after Karike.^[3]

Despite designing the colours of the national flag, Karike's achievement went largely unrecognised during her lifetime.^[9] She received no pension from the government and lived in poverty.^[10] The three-month delay between her death and her burial was due to the fact that the Prime Minister's office had promised her family that she would have a state funeral, yet rescinded on this promise.^[11]