Australian occupation of German New Guinea

Australian occupation of German New Guinea
	Part of the Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I
	; Australian Fleet entering Simpson Harbour in 1914.
Date	9 September – 21 October 1914
Location	German New Guinea
Result	Australian victory
Belligerents
Australia	German Empire German New Guinea; ;
Commanders and leaders
William Holmes; George Patey	Carl von Klewitz; Robert von Blumenthal; Albert Hahl
Strength
2,000	500
Casualties and losses
Australian invasion of German New Guinea 39 killed; 12 wounded; 1 submarine missing;	Australian invasion of German New Guinea 85 killed; 15 wounded;

The Australian occupation of German New Guinea occurred in the early stages of World War I when the colony was seized by the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force.

The colony of German New Guinea was poorly defended and the invasion met with limited resistance, with the Battle of Bita Paka in September 1914 being the only major engagement. Australian forces subsequently seized the island of Nauru in November 1914. Germany's other possessions in the Pacific were invaded by Allied forces in separate actions around the same time, including the New Zealand occupation of German Samoa and Japanese occupation of Micronesia.

German New Guinea remained under Australian military occupation until the end of the war, when it was made a League of Nations mandate and a civilian administration was established for the new Territory of New Guinea.