During the period 1953–69, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) conducted fourteen integrated land resource surveys in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea with the aim of identifying areas suitable for accelerated development. The resulting reconnaissance-level regional survey reports and maps provided extensive baseline information for national development planning. Related disciplinary publications expanded scientific knowledge of land resources and resource use in the wet tropics more generally. Substantial botanical collections carried out during the surveys contributed to building the Papua New Guinea (PNG) national collection at the Lae Herbarium and to the establishment of what is now the Australian National Herbarium.
