Editing Port Moresby (section)

===Independence===
[[File:Port Moresby parliament building front, by Steve Shattuck.jpg|thumb|upright|Front side of the parliament building]]
In September 1975, Papua New Guinea became an independent country with Port Moresby as its capital city. Prince [[Charles III|Charles, Prince of Wales]], represented the [[Monarchy of Papua New Guinea|Queen of Papua New Guinea]] at the celebrations.<ref name=TelegraphPoW>{{citation| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/9552611/Prince-of-Wales-and-Duchess-of-Cornwall-to-make-Australian-visit.html| title=Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall to make Australian visit| date=19 September 2012| newspaper=The Telegraph| access-date=21 September 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921114200/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/9552611/Prince-of-Wales-and-Duchess-of-Cornwall-to-make-Australian-visit.html| archive-date=21 September 2012| url-status=live}}</ref> New government, intellectual and cultural buildings were constructed in the suburb of [[Waigani]] to supplement and replace those of downtown Port Moresby. They included those for government departments, including a National Parliament Building, which was opened in 1984 by Prince Charles and blends traditional design with modern building technology.<ref name=TelegraphPoW/>

[[File:Douglas Street Port Moresby.jpg|thumb|left|Douglas Street, Port Moresby: Old hotel lot, vacant for 30 years, and new building behind it.]]
[[File:Site of POM downtown UC being redeveloped.jpg|thumb|left|The longstanding downtown United Church with next door office building in 2013 were replaced with one building, the church on the ground floor.]]

The [[Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery|Papua New Guinea National Museum]] and National Library are in [[Waigani]]. A mansion was built in Port Moresby just west of the old legislative building but the last pre-independence chief minister and first prime minister of the sovereign state declared it not nearly grand enough; it was made the residence of Australian high commissioners and a mansion suitable to Somare's demands was built in Waigani.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

Several of the government buildings have been abandoned due to long-term neglect. Chief amongst these are Marea Haus (known to most locals as the "Pineapple Building") and the Central Government Offices.{{cn|date=April 2023}} However, widespread restoration rather than demolition of long-disused office buildings has been highly active since the first decade of the 21st century.{{cn|date=April 2023}} The legislative building before independence and the first parliament building is long-gone but the old court house in town Port Moresby remains, bearing its pre-independence label with its previous title.

The population of the Port Moresby area expanded rapidly after independence. In 1980, the census return registered a population of 120,000; by 1990, this had increased to 195,000.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pcabii.org/resources/provinces/Port%20Moresby.pdf |title=''pcabii.org'' |access-date=2017-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803055354/http://pcabii.org/resources/provinces/Port%20Moresby.pdf |archive-date=2017-08-03 |url-status=live }}</ref>