Susan Karike

In 1971, when Karike was aged 15, her school, the Catholic Mission School at Yule Island in Central Province[3][4] was visited by the Selection Committee on Constitutional Development on 12 February.[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] It 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 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was due to the fact that the Prime Minister's office had promised her family that she would have a state funeral, yet rescinded on this promise.[11]