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Pacific Manuscripts Bureau Newsletter

Series 5,  No. 14                            June 2002

Room 4201, Coombs Building (9)
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 Australia
Ph: (612) 6125 2521;  Fax: (612) 6125 0198;  Email: pambu@coombs.anu.edu.au
http://rspas.anu.edu.au/pambu/


Contents
News from Canberra
Nancy Lutton, Papua New Guinea Patrol Reports: originals, microfilms and indexes   
Jacob Hevelawa, Have Respect for Vital Records     
Clive Moore, Solomon Islands National Archives 
Ewan Maidment, Some Recent PMB Projects   
Recent PMB Microfilm Titles             


News from Canberra

The Bureau has had a busy schedule of fieldwork in the Pacific Islands under Brij Lal’s leadership since 1993. It has been involved in a series of on-going preservation microfilm projects in Fiji and Papua New Guinea. It has run special projects in Tonga and Kiribati, responding to specific demands and opportunities. More programmatically it has operated a long-term strategic plan, focusing consecutively on French Polynesia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Micronesia. Throughout this period the Bureau has continued to make microfilms of supporting documents in New Zealand and Australia. This year and next (2002/2003) the Bureau is re-orientating its program towards Polynesia.

The Bureau’s archival operations concentrate on the islands, as the island-based records are seen as most vulnerable. Such records are given absolute priority by the Bureau. Nevertheless the Bureau is also able to respond to research demands and undertakes microfilming of records in safe custody where there is international demand for access.

The Bureau continued its vigorous program of fieldwork in 2001. It undertook several new overseas projects: in Rarotonga, on parts of the National Archives of the Cook Islands, in Auckland, on archives of Tasman Empire Airways Ltd, and, in Honiara, on the archives of the Solomon Islands National Union of Workers. The Yap Legislature Journal was microfilmed in Colonia, Yap State, FSM. Microfilming of the personal papers of W.C. Groves and
Fr J. Tschauder was continued in PNG.  Work on the Marshall Islands Resource Materials, collected by Gifford Johnson, was completed in Majuro.  Microfilm preservation projects were also carried out on-site in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

During the year the Bureau received 12 transfers of archival record groups for arrangement, description and/or microfilming. They include: archives of J T Arundel & Co, the Pacific Islands Co Ltd and the Pacific Phosphate Co Ltd; personal papers of Ms Dorothy Crozier, Dr Joan Herlihy, Mr Laurie Bragge, Dr James Jupp and Mr Robert Melrose; and minutes of the Kiribati Overseas Seamen’s Union and the South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions.

In 2001 the Bureau became involved in archival sound preservation for the first time, making arrangements for the preservation and duplication of 22 oral history interviews made in Fiji by Ms Marsali MacKinnon. In 2002 the Bureau will extend this sound preservation program to include recordings of oral history interviews which Merle Coppell made in Rarotonga in 1993 with three Catholic priests who were stationed in the outer Cook Islands: Fr John Kruitwagen, Fr John Rovers and Fr Damien Marinus; and an interview which Professor Lal recorded last year with Jai Ram Reddy, the Indo-Fijian politician.

This year the PMB Management Committee met in Auckland in conjunction with the meeting of the Association of Social Anthropologists Oceania. Brij Lal could not attend but sent a message noting that, although historians have been the Bureau’s primary clients, as anthropologists have become more conscious of history and the role of history in cultural and social analysis, the Bureau’s relevance to their discipline increases. The Bureau needs the support and advice of anthropologists to continue. Professor Lal asked anthropologists in the field to let the Bureau know when they come across material which should be preserved. He pointed out that the Bureau wants to preserve whatever we can not only for contemporary researchers but also for those who come after.

I made a fieldtrip to South Australia in March this year, collaborating with Barry Craig, the Foreign Ethnology Curator at the South Australian Museum, on two projects. Kenneth Thomas’ patrol reports and anthropological studies from the Sepik Region in Papua New Guinea, 1927-1934, were microfilmed at his daughter’s house in Victor Harbor. Rev. E G Neil’s diary of his first years with the Methodist mission in Samoa, 1902-1903, still in family hands, was microfilmed at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide.

In April Barry Howarth accompanied me back to Rarotonga to continue work in the Cook Islands National Archives. Archives of the Cook Islands Federation, 1890-1901, and the very early records of the NZ Administration were arranged listed and microfilmed. Further fieldwork in Fiji, Samoa and, possibly, Ponape is planned for this year.

In-house microfilming projects so far this year include a set of reports on the Pacific Islands trade unions, transferred by Alan Mattheson, the Australian Council of Trade Unions International Officer.  Dr Niel Gunson arranged the loan of the unpublished autobiography of Norman Cocks, the last Australasian Secretary of the London Missionary Society, which has also been microfilmed.
The PNG Department of Agriculture gave permission for the Bureau to copy the PNG Agricultural Journal, 1935-1990, which was microfilmed on site at the CSIRO Black Mountain Library in Canberra. The Library also holds a good run of the journal’s predecessor, a set of 70 Leaflets, 1924-34, on agriculture and meteorology, issued by the Territory of New Guinea Department of Agriculture, which the Bureau has microfilmed. This is the first stage of a collaborative project with the Pacific Community Secretariat (SPC) aimed at ensuring preservation of and access to Pacific islands scientific journals.

Microfilming of Grant McCall’s 10,000 Easter Island press cuttings is proceeding at the Bureau. We have also microfilmed parts of Dorothy Crozier’s papers and have commenced work on the arrangement and description of the Beatrice Baker Papers, included in the Crozier transfer.

Pat Johnson, a PNG old-hand, sent the Bureau a set of Graham Hamilton’s PNG patrol reports, which have now been microfilmed. They include a copy of Rev Norman Crutwell’s report on UFOs in Papua which is the basis of Randolf Stow’s novel, Visitants.

A second batch of Jo Herlihy’s Solomon Islands papers, dealing with local government, were transferred to the Bureau earlier this year. Anna Powles has lent the Bureau James Jupp’s papers documenting the independence period in Vanuatu for arrangement and microfilming.

Sister Margaret Sullivan has been in touch with the Bureau over a large batch of the Catholic Bishop’s archives which have recently come to light in Tarawa.

Dr Mike Bourke of RSPAS has suggested that the Bureau survey unpublished reports and rare published material considered to be at risk in the PNG Department of Agriculture Library at Konedobu, Port Moresby, which has now been closed for 12 months. Christina Tuitubau, of the Pacific Community Secretariat Library in Suva, has also indicated that the SPC is concerned about preserving resource materials held in agricultural research stations. She said that three Pacific islands agricultural research stations have recently been destroyed. Dodo Creek Research Station in Guadalcanal, which was burnt down last year, held irrecoverable reports and a possibly unique set of the Solomon Islands Agricultural Gazette.

Ewan Maidment, Executive Officer
Pacific Manuscripts Bureau
 

London Appointment for PMB Chair
Brij V. Lal

Brij Lal will be in London from May till July this year as he has been elected to edit the Fiji volume in the British Documents on the End of Empire Project. The Project is administered by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London under the general directorship of Dr Stephen Ashton. A number of volumes dealing with Britain's African and Asian colonies have already appeared.

The aim of the project is to put together a comprehensive collection of published and unpublished documents, with commentary and analysis and a general introduction, which throw light on how the British government viewed the problems and challenges of decolonising its empire and the practical steps they took to prepare the colonies for eventual independence.

Professor Lal has been given complete and unrestricted access to all important papers pertaining to Fiji. This time around, he will be working mainly at the Public Records Office in Kew, and next year he will be looking at other depositories in London. He expects to prepare the volume for publication by late next year.

Professor Lal has also been elected a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London, which will involve him in the life of the academic community there through lectures and seminars.

Greg Rawlings Leaving the Bureau

Greg Rawlings has taken up a Post-Doctoral Fellowship with the Centre for Tax System Integrity, part of the RegNet (Regulatory Institutions Network) group within the Research School of Social Sciences at the ANU.

This will involve research into the ways multinational corporations and high net worth individuals’ use of offshore finance centres, or tax havens, such as Vanuatu, Bermuda and Hong Kong, to manage global assets and minimise tax obligations in their home countries. This research is particularly salient at present due to the OECD's moves to encourage transparency in tax matters in a number of tax havens. In the Pacific these include, or have included, Vanuatu, Niue, Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tonga and Samoa. Mr Rawlings will examine issues of sovereignty, compliance, regulation, citizenship and the rights of small nation-states within an increasingly globalised world and expects to contribute towards policy initiatives that may assist such countries in working with multilateral institutions such as the OECD.
Mr Rawlings has been with the Bureau for four years while finishing his PhD. He helped to get the Bureau’s on-line data base up and running and built good relations with many researchers, especially anthropologists. He would like to thank friends of the Bureau/readers of Pambu for their support over the years. People can continue to contact him, especially about any aspect of his post-doc work, on the same email rawlings@coombs.anu.edu.au
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA PATROL REPORTS
Originals, microfilms and indexes
 
Nancy Lutton

Patrol Reports, which were written by field officers of both British New Guinea/Papua and the Territory of New Guinea before World War II and after the war by the officers of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea until independence in 1975, are important historical documents.   They contain observations on a wide range of subjects - population statistics, health, law and order, education (or the lack of it), agriculture, the need for infrastructure, roads, housing and many other matters.  Sometimes the patrols were exploratory and became the first contact for many villagers.  They have proved to be much sought after resource material for those researching pre-independence Papua New Guinea.  Although they are official reports, many field officers have kept their own reports as valuable mementos of their lives in PNG.  Those who neglected to keep their own reports (paper is the first casualty when you are moving frequently) now often seek out the original reports, and they are not always easy to find.  The tendency is to start with the National Archives of Australia (NAA), only to find that they hold comparatively few patrol reports.

The records of the Administration of PNG are not Australian records, and should not be in the National Archives of Australia.  This is a basic archival principle - records follow the administration.  However, if a document needed policy or any other action, which involved the Australian Department of Territories, or any other Australian department, a copy might be sent to that department.  In that case, the document would in due course became part of that department's archives and so arrive at the National Archives of Australia.  The NAA has produced a Fact Sheet, no. 48 on patrol reports.  The largest collection, of 199 reports, is to be found at CRS A7034, but some are to be found in other series.  The Australian War Memorial houses those produced during World War II by the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit in series AWM54 and AWM254.  The NAA also holds microfilms of quite a number of other patrol reports.  Ivan Champion lent his collection of 24 reports to the NAA for filming and they are at A7357.  The so called G Series (see below) are on microfilm and patrol reports from some PNG Provinces, held at the National Archives of Papua New Guinea (see below), are on microfiche at A9844.

The National Archives of Papua New Guinea, where I was Chief Archivist 1989-1992, holds the original copies of patrol reports (and all pre-independence administration records).  There are well over 22,000 patrol reports safely preserved in a purpose-built archival building at Waigani, that is, those copies originally held in the Department of District Services at Konedobu, which are mostly post-war.  Not only are they housed in optimum conditions and serviced by competent and qualified staff, a full scale microfilming project to film all reports was carried out in the early 1990s.  Microfilming is expensive, but finance was provided by the Melanesian Studies Resource Center (MSRC) at the University of California, San Diego, USA. 

The MSRC also indexed the reports on computer, and this can be found at http://sshl.ucsd.edu/melanesia/patrols.htm.  The MSRC has also obtained microfilms of those at NAA CRS A7034 and another lot known as the G91 Series (see below), and has indexed them as well.  In the process of being published are hard copy indexes, more detailed than the computerised version.  So far published are the indexes for the G91 series, A7034 series, and for Central, Simbu, Eastern Highlands, East New Britain, East Sepik and Gulf Provinces.  

The so-called G Series are those records which were saved in Port Moresby and sent to Australia in 1942.  These consist of the records of British New Guinea 1884 to 1906 and of Papua 1906 to 1942.  While they were in Australia these records were microfilmed by the NAA.  After this was done, the originals were returned to the NAPNG, together with copies of the microfilms. The patrol reports are in G91.  German New Guinea records were also saved since they had been transferred to Australia during the 1930s.  They became part of the G Series and like the Papuan records were microfilmed and returned after the war. (See "Return to Port Moresby - the survival, copying and restitution of rescued records" by Nancy Lutton and Hilary Rowell, in Archives and Manuscripts Vol.23 no.2 November 1995). As is well known, Mandated Territory of New Guinea records 1921-1941 were not so lucky and were destroyed during the Japanese invasion of Rabaul.

The original post-war patrol reports in Port Moresby were filmed on microfiche, and the microfiche had to be purchased by other interested institutions.  I was aware that the NAA, the National Library of Australia (NLA) and the Australian National University (ANU) Library were all purchasing them in provincial lots as they were filmed.  However, I left before the project was completed, so I have recently checked with all three institutions as to whether they continued to purchase them.  I found that only ANU Library has done so, which is adequate for Canberra.  NAA has fiche for Madang, Manus, Milne Bay, Morobe, New Ireland, Northern and West New Britain.  NLA has fiche for Central, Eastern Highlands, Gulf, North Solomons, West New Britain, East New Britain, and Simbu.  It is possible other major libraries in the States, such as the Mitchell Library, have purchased sets, but I have not been able to check this out. 

I understand that four copies of each report were made, one for the Administration, one for the District Office, one for the station and the patrol officer kept the fourth.  In theory then, copies might still be found at Provincial Headquarters or former patrol posts, and while the latter is very unlikely occasionally copies do turn up in Provinces.  Indeed, the present PNG National Archivist has been targeting provincial offices to bring in any records held there.  Many of those field officers who kept their own reports have deposited them in institutions which collect such material.

Foremost among these is the National Library of Australia.  Some of those who have deposited papers there, including patrol reports, are Ian Downs, DM Fenbury,  A Nurton, and Craig Symons, to name just a few.  However, if the papers include documents relating to a State and the donor is identified with a State, then any of the State Libraries would welcome a deposit.  There are some University Libraries, which also collect personal papers, such as the University of Queensland's Fryer Library, which has the papers of JJ Murphy.  The ANU Library does not collect personal papers, but has an excellent collection of PNG publications and microfilms.  The Noel Butlin Archives Centre at ANU does have some PNG papers, including those of Dr John Gunther and of Burns Philp.

If owners of patrol reports prefer to keep the reports for their own families, then they can always be microfilmed.  The body set up to do just that is the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau (PMB).  PMB microfilms are available for the papers of HE Woodman (PMB 602), IFG Downs (PMB 607 & 918), CD Bates, AF Kyle, JK McCarthy, CW Slattery and JB McKay (all on PMB 616), Ian Mack (PMB 1036), DR Goodger (PMB1060), Craig Symons (PMB 1090), A Speer (PMB 1122), AE Watkins (PMB 1143), Sarea Kiri (PMB 1161), Gerald Brown (PMB 1162), Kenneth Thomas (PMB 1197) and Graham Hamilton (PMB 1199).  They are to be found in most major libraries, or can be purchased.

The hunt is still on for the papers of pre-war patrol officers in the Mandated Territory.  Since most of the originals did not survive, the personal copies are probably the only extant copies.  By now, the writers will mostly have passed on, but some families may still retain the papers.  In 1974, PMB researched and published (Pambu No.35) a list of more than 160 DOs, ADOs, and POs, but the PMB only found reports of 26 officers, which had been deposited in institutions or microfilmed.  A list was published of the 160 officers, and the locations of the reports of the 26.  In 1988, Robert Langdon updated the list of reports located, following responses from people who had read the earlier article.  The update is contained in a section of the PMB Book of Pacific Indexes, published by the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. 

The first list below is an abbreviated form of the index of papers of pre-World War II New Guinea Patrol Officers located, giving only name, location and number of reports indexed in brackets.  The reports indexed may not comprise all the reports an officer wrote, and some have been found in institutions since 1988 and not indexed.  The second list is of papers of pre-World War II New Guinea Patrol Officers yet to be found.  It is reproduced in case any readers have contact with the families of those whose reports appear to be lost forever. (The lists do not include Papuan or post-war patrol officers.)

Papers of Pre-WWII NG Patrol Officers –Located

TG Aitchison    NAPNG (28)
CD Bates    PMB 616, NAA, NAPNG (19)
JR Black    NAA, NLA MS 8346 (8)
RE Brechin    Dept of Primary Industry,
Aiyura,    EHP, PNG (2)
KWT Bridge    NAA (2)
B Calcutt    NAA (2)
CR Croft    NAPNG (15)
JF Daymond    NAA (2)
IFG Downs    PMB 607 & 918; NLA MS
8254 (41)
NC Elliott    NAPNG (17)
RM Farlow    NAA (1)
EA Feldt    NAA (1)
DM Fenbury    NLA MS 6747
G Greathead    NAPNG (3)
HW Hartley    SLNSW Dixon Library (1)
G Hickley    SLNSW Dixon Library (2)
AJ Hunter    PIM, Jan 1932, pp11-13 (1)
EE Jones    SLNSW Dixon Library (1)
G Keogh    NAA; NAPNG (5)
AF Kyle        PMB 616; NAA; NAPNG (20)
JB McAdam    Dept Primary Indust, Aiyura (1)
JK McCarthy    PMB 616; NAA MP742/1 (39)
IM Mack    PMB 1036
JB Mackay    PMB 616 (1)
DC McPhee    NAPNG; NLA MS 8346 (3)
R Melrose    NAA (2)
JS Milligan    NAA; NAPNG (5)
L. Morris    SLNSW Dixon Library (1)
JJ Murphy    Fryer Library Univ of Qld
GP Neilson    NAPNG (2)
CTH Nelson    SLNSW Dixon Library (1)
HLR Niall    NAA (5)
A Nurton    NLA MS 2885; NAA; NAPNG
(21)
EW Oakley    NAA (2)
N Penglase    NAA (2)
M Pitt        NAPNG (9)
L Pursehouse    NAPNG (12)
AA Roberts    NAA (2)
ED Robinson    NAA (1)
A Samson    NAA (1)
CW Slattery    PMB 616 (4)
RG Speedie    NAA (1)
E Taylor    NAA (1)
JL Taylor    NAA (4)
KH Thomas    NAA (3); PMB 1197
GWL Townsend  NLA MS 3661 (3)
HE Woodman    PMB 602 (43)
YG Yanner      SLNSW Dixon Library (1)

Papers of Pre-WWII NG Patrol Officers –
Not Found

J Appleby    EC McDonald
G Austin    JH McDonald
WB Ball    F Macdonnell
EM Bastard    RKC McMullen
JW Bell    ND McWilliam
GW Benham    RGG Mader
AA Bloxham    FW Mantle
HA Booth    JW Mason
RH Boyan    JI Merrylees
SW Brearley    CJ Millar
AW Cains    PJ Miller
HC Cardew    EHF Mitchell
EK Carlisle    PJ Mollison
DGN Chambers    GW Mostyn
SJ Chapman    FH Moy
CG Clifton    JC Mullaly
RR Cole    G Naess
HF Cook    M Wilder Neligan
JA Costelloe    HM Nickols
WI Crichton    GC O'Donnell
HG Cunningham    HLSB Ogilvy
DW Dally-Watkins    WMB Ogilvy
NJ Dillane    RG Ormsby
N Douglas    PM Penhalluriack
HL Downing    VB Pennefather
MS Edwards    BF Phibbs
WM Edwards    WG Pooley
DS Elliott    JR Rigby
GMR Elliott    AL Roberts
G Ellis    TL Roper
WM English    AH Ross
C Falkner    WE Sanson
HL Fletcher    AH Scroggie
AC Forte    FNW Shand
HS Foulkes    BW Sherman
GK Freeman    GE Simcocks
WB Giles    SS Skeate
ER Gittoes    RI Skinner
JA Grant    HGF Somerset
HA Gregory    RB Strudwick
NS Griffiths    JT Tennent
H Hamilton    OJ Thompson
GC Harris    WJ Townsend
D Heaton-Brown    NR Tutton
HB Hempstead    DH Vertigan
JW Hodgekiss    LG Vial
WJ Hook    P. Vivian
LFS Hore    TW Walker
LF Howlett    J Walstab
AJ Hunter    CF Warde
JH Jones    J Waterhouse
N Judd    D Waugh
JT Kenny    EC Webster
LGR Kyngdon    JP White
WN Leach    H Wickham
CJ Levien    WM Wilkin
NC Lineham    HL Williams
JH Lukin    AH Wilson
J Lyng    CA Wittkop
ID Lyon    RA Woodward
TL McAdam   

This article is an expanded version of Nancy Lutton’s article on patrol reports published in Una Voce, June 2002.
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Post Courier Viewpoint
Wednesday 24th April, 2002

Have respect for vital records. THE National Archives is perturbed by the recent events in the Sandaun Administration, particularly the burning down of the administration building housing a vital and fundamental tool of administration — the financial records of the province.
 
It is a sad state of affairs when the records are the targets of criminal acts. When can Papua New Guineans learn to respect records as another lifeline of human endeavours?

The records are there to serve a purpose, taking into consideration the information contained in records and its use to provide evidence of transactions that have taken place to serve the needs of inhabitants in a certain location.

For example, if personal files have been destroyed in the recent fire, then one part of the life of a pubic servant has been destroyed. It may take years to rebuild a devastated life. If a file can be reconstructed it may not sufficiently restore the missing links. Consequently, there may be loss of superannuation or other benefits.

The National Archives visited the West Sepik Province in 1994 and emphasised the need to establish a record storage facility to house the province’s important records. Its proposals and recommendations have not been given enough or any consideration by those in the administration resulting, in this devastating state of affairs to the records of the province.

Not to mention the destruction to Manus and Morobe administration records in 2001, and similar fire related disasters to Southern Highlands and Enga provinces’ vital records in previous years.

National Archives strongly condemns those involved in the burning down of public property, in particular records. After all, records are basic tools of administration. They are the means by which many administrative processes and functions of an organisation are performed.
 
They enable a society to plan for the future based on past experiences. It now means the finance division of the Sandaun Administration has to start from square one to re-establish its administration’s financial records.

National Archives would recommend to those in authority to take heed over these drastic events, especially man-made disasters, are a warning to take necessary steps to ensure vital records are given proper archival attention.
 
One may question why National Archives is advocating the preservation of records after a disaster. This institution with its limited financial and manpower capacity has already embarked on rescuing records in six provinces. The question now is the political and administrative will to ensure the program of preserving provincial record is given the needed support it deserves.
 
On the other hand, the Freedom of Information legislation should be given a serious thought, because it will be one mechanism to ensure record keeping is mandatory in all levels of machinery of government. The legislation will ensure administrative responsibility for the management, use and disposition of public records is bestowed in an appropriate section or division within a machinery of government to ensure vital records are given appropriate archival attention.

Jacob Hevelawa
PNG National Archivist

Copyright, 2001, Post-Courier Online. Thanks to Robin Hide for pointing out this piece.
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Research Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences
PNG Then and Now:
Critical Reflections on Cultural Decolonisation and Nationalism

11 & 12 July 2002,
Women's College, Sydney University

From the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s, Papua New Guinea underwent a frantic period of decolonisation. What lessons can we draw from this simultaneous attempt both to actualise and assimilate? This symposium will attempt to evaluate what was probably the shortest and most intense period of decolonisation in the twentieth century. Speakers will address the subtle and often diffuse cultural interplays that have influenced the processes of decolonisation. These interlocking narratives of connection and dissonance will provide challenging new insights into the story of the relationship between Australia and PNG.

Sessions on literature, the visual and performing arts, journalism, and cultural institutions will address these issues from the point of view of those who were involved at the time, and to these reflections will be added the insights of a new generation of writers, artists, teachers, academics, journalists, aid workers, historians, political scientists, cultural workers and others.

Confirmed speakers:  H.E. Renagi Lohia, Nora Vagi Brash, Dr Regis Stella, Dr Greg Murphy, Peter Trist, Sir Paulias Matane, Nancy Lutton, Fr Paul Duffy, Professor Donald Denoon, Steve Winduo, Michael Mel, Anna Solomon.

Further information at http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/rihss/png.html

Registration: 2 days $220/$130concession,
1 day $110/$65 (GST, lunch, refreshments included).
Enquiries: Natalya Lusty, Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (RIHSS), Woolley Building A20, University of Sydney NSW 2006, nlusty@genderstudies.usyd.edu.au, (02) 9351 5100

Please call Melissa McMahon at the RIHSS office 9351-5344 for further information about the conference itself.
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SOLOMON ISLANDS NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Clive Moore
History Department, University of Queensland

I spent almost three weeks researching in the SINA during April and May.  The Archives are still open and operating, with George Vari as acting Director, ably assisted by Damien Oi’ofa in the research room.  Apart from a cleaner, that seems to be the entire staff at the moment.  Public servants get paid very spasmodically these days and it is a credit to both George and Damien that they turn up to work and keep the Archives functioning.

I was last there in February 2001 and nothing much has changed.  The air conditioning was turned off years ago, which will eventually lead to deterioration of the documents.  The original Western Pacific High Commission files are still in good condition and well housed, which was fine for the Malaita research that I have been slowly chewing at over the last ten years.  This time I took my own portable photocopier, enabling rapid progress, at least when the power was on.  The town’s power supply is getting worse.  Electricity load sharing means the power is two hours on and two hours off, which is rather a nuisance when your laptop’s battery refuses to work, but it does give you a lot of time to admire the scenery.  There is a cheap email café (well, no coffee, just the computers) nearby, which is a nice diversion. 

Life in Honiara is very shaky these days, given the perilous state of the economy and the general political situation.  Anyone who watched ABC Four Corners on 20th May, filmed while I was in Honiara, will have a pretty good idea of the situation.  I was the only regular researcher using the Archives, but there was still a trickle of Solomon Islanders researching everything from village matters to shipwrecks, reshaping the constitution, and the Anglican mission.  Sometimes I was the only person around and ended up giving all sorts of strange advice.  My best effort was giving advice to a policeman who wanted to re-write the constitution giving all holders of MBEs, OBEs and Knighthoods the final say in all sorts of matters.  (I refuse to divulge the advice I gave.)

In all the back rooms there are huge piles of unsorted recent acquisitions, spilling over everywhere, but this has been the case ever since I began using the Archives.  The piles just get bigger.  There is no staff to sort and catalogue new material and there are no extra shelves to put anything on anyway.  The building, now twenty years old, is strong and large, and can cope with a lot more records.  Perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel.  During June George Vari is in London for three weeks, accompanying his Minister and the Permanent Secretary of the Department responsible for the Archives, talking to the British Government about transferring more files to Honiara, and also asking for help with staffing and equipment.  Let us hope they are successful.
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SOME RECENT PMB PROJECTS

Madang, 21-28 May 2001, Tschauder Papers.
Fr Doug Young, who had previously been the Bureau’s main contact at the Divine Word University, has been transferred to the position of Auxiliary Bishop of Mt Hagen. He put me in touch with Fr Patrick Gesch, Vice-President of the DWU, who supported continuation of the project and approved arrangements for my accommodation at DWU. It was a pleasure to return to the University, to see it continuing to thrive, and to feel welcome in that busy community of teachers and students.

The DWU had received a grant of K10 million to construct a new University Library on the campus in Madang. Fr Czuba, President of the University, a professional architect, is managing the project. Work had already begun on the foundations and it is expected that the two-storey building will be completed in late 2002. The Noser Library and Archives, under a specialist librarian, is to occupy the second floor of the new building. Fr Czuba envisages expanding the Archives to become a regional collecting archives, attracting local and international researchers. The construction of a new library and archives facility of this magnitude is a significant event in the Pacific islands and deserves full support of the regional library and archives communities.

In the meantime, conditions in the old Noser Library remained stable. The special collection of books continued to be used regularly by staff and students. The Z’graggen Papers were still in cartons on the floor. Fr Tschauder’s books were still stacked in about 40 cartons along one wall of the library waiting to be sorted. The Tschauder Papers were in good condition having been transferred to new filing cabinets during my last visit.

I deposited prints of the completed PMB microfilms of the Tschauder Papers, did some tidying up in the Library, listed some of the German language books, but focused mainly on the Tschauder Papers – fine-tuning their arrangement, adding location numbers to the items, completing the item lists and continuing the microfilming of the papers.

Three Document Series titles were microfilmed:
•    PMB Doc 448 Outrigger: Madang Teachers Journal, (PNG Dept of Education) 1970-73
•    PMB Doc 449  The Teacher (PNG Teachers Association), Nos.1-23, 1971-1974
•    PMB Doc 550  Passer Solitarius (SVD Mission, Wewak), 1959-1966 (gaps)

Nine additional reels of microfilm were made of the Tschauder Papers - copying his files on missions in Melanesia and on on colonial administrations in New Guinea, his translations of German language anthropological studies of New Guinea peoples and of articles and reports on New Guinea in Amtsblatt, Deutsches Kolonialblatt and Deutsches Kolonialzeitung. Unfortunately there was not enough time to copy the final series which is Fr Tschauder’s extensive translations of articles and reports on New Guinea from German language Divine Word Mission journals.

PMB    1160
TSCHAUDER, Fr John J.   (1908 – 1996)
Papers on the history of the Catholic Missions in Papua New Guinea and other parts of Melanesia
1845 – 1996    15 reels        35mm microfilm
Originals held in the Noser Archives, Divine Word University, Madang, Papua New Guinea
Available for reference

NOTE. Fr Johannes J. Tschauder SVD was ordained in 1936 and joined the Divine Word Mission in New Guinea in December 1937. He was parish priest on Karkar island from 1938 till 1943 when he was captured by the Japanese. He worked in parishes in Australia from 1944 till 1949 and then in Ulingan on the Madang coast from 1949 till 1955. Fr Tschauder took sick leave in Europe from 1955 till 1958 and then returned to New Guinea as parish priest at Tabele on Manam Island. He taught at Holy Spirit Seminary, both when it was in Madang and at Bomana, from 1963 till his retirement in 1977. In retirement at the Madang Archdiocesan headquarters, Fr Tschauder undertook translation work and built a collection of German materials on PNG settlement, together with first draft translations into English. These papers have now been incorporated in the archival holdings at the Noser Library at the Divine Word University.
CONTENTS    Papers by Fr John J. Tschauder; diaries & notebooks of Fr Tschauder, 1937-46; correspondence of Fr Tschauder, 1937-54; personal papers and manuscripts collected by Fr Tschauder (including Fr Appollinaris Anova-Ataba,
Fr Cornelius van Barr, Br David Brummer,
Br Willie Cherubim Kaufmann, Fr Heinrich Luttmer, Fr J. Nilles, Fr James Noss, Fr Alphons Schaefer, Fr Stefanski, Sr Vinciana, Eugene Weber,
Fr Francis Winzenhärlein); subject files on the Divine Word Mission in New Guinea and Christianity in the Pacific islands to 1990; files on colonial administrations in New Guinea, 1880-1982; papers on the Divine Word Mission in New Guinea, 1894-1996; papers on the Madang & Sepik regions, 1913-88; translations from German to English of anthroplogical works on New Guinea; translations from German official reports, articles and notes on New Guinea, 1895-1915.  See Reel List for details.

Port Moresby, 28 May – 5 June 2001,
W C Groves Papers
Staying at the Lutheran Guest House at Hohola was far more congenial and far less expensive than RSPAS’s preferred arrangement with the Airways Hotel. It is a comfortable, secure building and the staff provide good meals. Commuting on the buses from Hohola market to the UPNG was safe and interesting. Gun shots could be heard from the Hohola settlement on some nights.

Bishop Wesley Kigasung, who had previously been Principal of the Lutheran Seminary in Lae, was staying at the Lutheran Guest Haus. He said that archives had been transferred from Lutheran mission stations and churches to the Seminary and that he was planning to apply for funds to build a new library/archives.

The first day in Moresby was spent delivering positive prints of PMB microfilms to the Maritime Workers Union, the National Archives, the National Library and the UPNG Library’s New Guinea Collection, where I set up the camera to begin microfilming the following day. I also went to the library of the Department of Agriculture and Livestock at Konedobu to check its holdings of scientific serials, but it was closed.

At the National Archives I heard several reports of interest to the Bureau. The Fisheries archives, on which the Bureau had worked at Kanudi with Dr Patricia Kailola, have now been transferred to the National Archives. The Archives’ survey of East Sepik District Administration archives had located 3-4,000 files in the District Offices at Maprik and Angoram, and also at the Provincial HQ in Wewak, dating from the 1950s. It was noted that the HQ at Wewak had been burnt in 1987 and most of the records held there, especially financial records, had been destroyed. National Archives staff began sorting and boxing the surviving records and left them for Provincial Records Clerks to finish sorting and listing. However, longterm survival of the records is doubtful as the Provincial Government has made no arrangements for establishment of a Provincial Archives.

Robert Gwamuwe, the Deputy National Archivist, also reported on a National Archives survey of District Administration records in his home Province of Milne Bay. He said that roughly three containers of records had been located on Samarai Island. Samarai had been the HQ of the District Administration till it was shifted to Alotau in 1974. The earliest record sighted was dated 1922. The records include early patrol reports and land tax registers. They are in poor condition, affected by salt exposure and infested by mould, fungus and bookworms. The National Archives staff shifted the records from various sites on Samarai Island to one shed. Mr Glen Tauliso, who was the Losuia Dsistrict Administrator in 2000 when the National Archives and the Bureau carried out the rescue project at Losuia, is now the Milne Bay Deputy Provincial Administrator. Mr Tauliso strongly supports a rescue project on Samarai. The Milne Bay Provincial Administration has agreed to establish a Provincial Archives at Alotau to accommodate Provincial records, including those at Alotau. The National Archives would like to combine with the Bureau on a rescue project. Robert Gwamuwe also reported that he had surveyed archives held in a copra shed at Misima, and found them in a very poor state – infested with termites.

While working on the New Guinea Collection in the UPNG Library, I noted one file of corespondence of Rev J C Rundle, who was based at Bwaidoga, Papua c.1930-1932. It was in very fragile condition loose on the shelves in the storeroom in which I was filming. A note attached to the correspondence indicated that it had been deposited by Dr Sione Latukefu in 1984. Mr Naguwean had given the Bureau permission to microfilm it, but there was no time to do so during the visit.

Fewer than three days were available for microfilming and they were abbreviated by closure of the University on one afternoon due to a water shortage. There was time to make three rolls of microfilm of Groves’ papers on mission education, his correspondence series and his miscellaneous series. Filming the remainder of the papers will have to be completed on another visit.

PMB 1164
GROVES, William Charles (1898 – 1967)
Papers relating to education in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, 1922 – 1962    9 reels    35mm microfilm
Originals held in New Guinea Collection, Michael Somare Library, P O Box 319, University of Papua New Guinea, NCD 134, PNG. Available for reference

NOTE.    William Charles Groves (1898-1967) was a Supervisor of Education in Mandated Territory of New Guinea from 1922 till 1926.  He carried out anthropological work in the Western Pacific, including New Guinea, from 1931 till 1936, as a Research Fellow with the Australian National Research Council.  He was Director of Education in Nauru from 1937 till 1938 and Advisor on Education in the Solomon Islands from 1939 till 1940.  After World War II he was appointed Director of Education in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea and remained in that post till 1958.
CONTENTS.   The WC Groves Papers were arranged and calendared by John A Collier in 1972 in eight parts: 1. Mission education in Melanesia;  2. Papua New Guinea Pre-War; 3.  Papua New Guinea Post-War; 4. Nauru; 5. Correspondence & miscellaneous; 6. South Pacific Commission; 7. Honolulu Conference, 1936; 8. Photographs in the Collection. Parts 1-5 are microfilmed here by the Bureau, together with John Collier’s, Guide to the Groves Papers. See Reel List for details.

Honiara, 3-10 June, Solomon Islands National Union of Workers Archives.
At the Labour History conference in Canberra at Easter last year, Joses Tuhanuku, a former General Secretary of the Solomon Islands National Union of Workers (SINUW), asked whether the Bureau would consider working on the SINUW archives. The SINUW archives were in a poor state and deteriorating rapidly when I surveyed them in 1994. Tony Kagovai, the SINUW General Secretary, David Tuhanuku, the President, and Professor Lal agreed that the project should proceed as soon as possible while there was a lull in the civil strife in the Solomon Islands.

The situation in Honiara was calm; shops, the market and banks were open; the public service was operating, though on skeleton levels of staffing; the PMVs in town were running and taxi transport to the airport was normal; inter-island ferries were operating; telecommunications and the mail were also working, though none of the public service offices I visited had operating telephones or faxes. The Honiara Provincial Administration buildings had been burnt down. Two office-buildings opposite the market were also been burnt down, but reconstruction started on one owned by a Malaitan leader during the week I was visiting. The Honiara Hotel where I stayed was almost full with displaced people. There was no running water at the hotel as the water source has been damaged. All drinking water had to be boiled.

Taking the taxi from the airport to the hotel on a Sunday afternoon we passed some militants showing off their weapons to a large silent crowd in front of the USP campus. Walking between the hotel and town, across the Mataniko Bridge, was safe enough, though David Tuhanuku did give me a lift back to the hotel on late nights. One afternoon when I ducked out to buy a drink, a youngish fellow passing-by in the main street karate-kicked me. Nothing was damaged except my dignity, but I was surprised. There was an air of tension or suspicion (or trauma) in Honiara, quite different from the friendly atmosphere I was used to on the streets on previous visits, before the civil strife.

I had hoped to microfilm the Solomon Islands Agricultural Gazette, 1933-36, held in the Library at the Dodo Creek Agricultural Research Station. However Mr Jimi Saelea, Acting Research Director in the Department of Agriculture, confirmed rumours that the Library had been burnt down along with all the other buildings at the Research Station. Another set of this rare journal has now been located at the Queensland Herbarium Library, having been transferred from the CSIRO Central Library in Melbourne which closed down a few years ago.

Damien Oiofa was Acting Deputy Archivist, as the National Archivist, Esther Karibongi had shifted to New Zealand. He said that he had stayed in the Archives on his own during two attacks and called on militants to help. Raskols had taken the furniture but had not damaged the archives. Mr Oiofa said that he would be happy to collaborate in a transfer of the SINUW archives to the National Archives, however the transfer did not eventuate during my visit.

David Tuhanuku, the SINUW President, and Tony Kagovai, the General Secretary, were very helpful and concerned that the archives project be carried out thoroughly and well. The archives boxes which the Bureau had shipped to Honiara had arrived safely. Two SINUW staff members were allocated to help with the sorting and listing. The archives were in the same storeroom where I had surveyed them in 1994. There had been rats and mice in them then and they were still living there, together with cockroaches and silverfish. We emptied the whole store room, cleaned, sorted, boxed and listed the records and burnt the rubbish. The main series of correspondence and industrial files were intact, although some of the papers had been badly eaten. Four rolls of microfilm were made of all the available minutes, selected correspondence and industrial files, and a complete run of Trade Disputes Panel Awards. The records microfilmed date from the establishment of the Union in 1975.

PMB 1187
SOLOMON ISLANDS NATIONAL UNION OF WORKERS
Archives, 1975 – 2000   Reels 1-4  35mm microfilm
Originals held at    Solomon Islands National Union of Workers, PO Box 14, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Available for reference.

NOTE.      The Solomon Islands General Workers Union (SIGWU), later known as the Solomon Islands National Union of Workers (SINUW), was founded by Bart Ulufa’alu and registered on 17 June 1975. Solomon Islands trade unions ran into immediate difficulties gaining recognition from employers and, following a large demonstration in Honiara in December 1975, a number of union leaders were fined and two, Bart Ulufa’ulu (SIGWU) and James Meafa’alu (GNEWU), were gaoled. Bart Ulufa’ulu won a seat in the June 1976 general elections, as a candidate for the union-organised Nationalists’ Party. He consequently resigned as SIGWU General Secretary, staying on as an adviser to the Union. Joses Tuhanuku was elected as his replacement. While Mr Tuhanuku was in Denmark for training, from February 1977 till June 1978, the SIGUW’s registration was suspended on the grounds of misappropriation of funds (later disproved). By the time Joses Tuhanuku returned to Honiara the Union’s membership had dropped from 6,000 to 300. However, strong organisation among plantation workers over the next few years produced collective agreements with Unilever’s palm oil operation in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands Plantations Ltd, and two other Unilever subsidiaries, Levers Pacific Timbers Ltd and Levers Pacific Plantations Ltd. By 1980 the union had rebuilt its membership to 10,000, half the Solomon Islands workforce.  The name of the union was altered to Solomon Islands National Union of Workers at the AGM in April 1980, reflecting the Union’s national representation of workers in various categories in almost all industries in the Solomon Islands. (From Joses Taungenga Tuhanuku, “Trade Unions and Politics”, in Peter Lawrence and Sue Tarua (ed.), Solomon Islands Politics, Suva, USP Institute of Pacific Studies, 1983.)
CONTENTS.        Bart Ulufa’ulu’s SIGUW correspondence, Apr-Dec 1975; National Council minutes, 1984-1999; annual returns, 1976-1980; financial returns, 1983-1988; press releases, 1982-1992; correspondence re collective agreements with Foxwood (SI) Timbers Ltd, Honiara Town Council, Lever Solomons Ltd, Lever Pacific Timbers, Solomon Islands Plantations Ltd, Solomon Taiyo, Solomon Islands Ports Authority; Trades Disputes Panel Awards, 1984-2000. See Reel List for details.

Fieldtrip to Brisbane and Micronesia,
16 July – 11 August 2001

This was the third year of the Bureau’s current program in Micronesia. In 1999 records of the Kiribati Overseas Seamen’s Union and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart were microfilmed on Tarawa. In 2000 the Bureau started work on the Giff Johnson’s papers at the College of the Marshall Islands, microfilmed the Yap Constitutional Convention papers held by the Yap State Archives and was represented at the PIALA conference in Guam.

The trip in 2001 was aimed at completing the Giff Johnson project in Majuro, microfilming the Yap Legislature Journal in Colonia and participating in PARBICA 9 at Koror. It was also planned to talk to Naomi Ngirakamerang, Chief of the Palau National Archives, about copying Palau Constitutional Convention papers, as suggested by Karen Peacock, and to talk to Judge Dee Johnson about Marshall Islands Supreme Court records. As the plane connections went through Brisbane, the opportunity was taken to continue work on the Fred Archer Papers held by Mrs Mary Roberts at Loganholme, near Brisbane. Other possible projects for the trip had been ruled out. Air Nauru was not flying, so follow-up work in Nauru and Kiribati was not possible. Bishop Amando Samo had not given permission for the Bureau to work on the archives of the Catholic Diocese of the Caroline Islands in Chuuk. However, it was hoped to hold discussions with Fr Fran Hezel about some related material which he holds. It was the most expensive trip undertaken by the Bureau during my time as Executive Officer due to the high cost of air travel in Micronesia. Using the power conversion kit built for the Bureau by Daniel Brian in Honolulu and the Bureau’s newer camera-head, there were no serious camera problems on this trip and the quality of the filming was good.

Brisbane, 18 – 19 July 2001.  Fred Archer Papers.
Staying overnight at Mrs Robert’s house at Loganholme, I made 3 rolls of microfilm of the alpha series of the Fred Archer subject files, J-R, on his plantations on Buka and Bougainville, and related matters, and re-filmed his war-time diaries. There are still about two and a half cartons of records to film, consisting of subject files S-Z and files on Wuvalu and Hakau Plantations.

PMB 1184
Fred Palmer ARCHER (1890 – 1997)
Papers relating to plantations in Wuvulu, Bougainville and Buka, Papua New Guinea
1923-1974    5 reels    35mm microfilm
Originals held by Mrs Mary Roberts, Loganholme, Queensland, Australia.    Available for reference

NOTE.    Fred Archer was born in Melbourne in 1890 and died in 1997. He was with the first Australian Imperial Force, came to New Guinea in 1923 and later took over Jame Plantation, Buka Passage, in the Bougainville District of the Territory of New Guinea. Jame Plantation was one of the ex-German plantations sold by the Commonwealth Government in 1926/27 to returned soldiers. He was appointed a civilian coast watcher in the Buka-Bougainville area at the outbreak of the war in the Pacific and evacuated to Guadalcanal and then Australia in 1943. He joined the British Solomon Islands Defence Force in September 1943 and transferred to ANGAU in early 1945. After the war he returned to his plantations in New Guinea where he became one of the Territory’s most successful and influential planters.
CONTENTS.    The papers include: letters from Fred Palmer to his family and friends, mainly from Wuvulu Island, Manus District, and from Jame Plantation in Buka, 1923-1928; Report on coast watching activitiy, Bougainville Island, 1941-1943, by WJ Read; Archer’s Solomon Islands war diaries, 1943; and a set of files arranged by Mrs Roberts from the Archer Papers for her biography of Fred Archer. The files cover many aspects of Archer’s post-war career, including some material on the Planters Association of Bougainville and the history of the Planters Association of New Guinea. See Reel List for details.

Majuro, 20 – 28 July 2001, Marshall Islands Resource Materials.
Carrying more than 70 kilos of gear, including an extra camera head, papers and a few clothes, I arrived in Majuro from Guam through Chuuk, Phonpei, Kosrae and Kwajelen. Maxine Becker, the College of the Marshall Islands Librarian, had kindly arranged accommodation for me at the Outrigger Hotel in exchange for information on Marshall Islands dancing, which I gave to Bill Weza, the hotel’s General Manager. I set up the camera at the CMI in the same closet used on the last trip and then filmed all week, making 10 rolls plus doing some re-filming, and completing the microfilm project with less than two hours to spare before departure.

I met Giff Johnson on a couple of occasions during the week and inquired about some peripheral papers he held. Mr Johnson said that the correspondence of his mother, Bette, had been destroyed by termites and that the Northern Marshalls audio tapes which he and Darlene Keju had made had been transferred to the University of Hawaii, together with sound recordings of at least two of the Nuclear Free Pacific conferences. Only the first few chapters of the autobiography of his father, Walter Johnson, are complete; the remainder is in outline together with reference material. Mr Johnson said that he would like to complete work on his father’s autobiography and on his biography of Robert Reimer.

I also visited the Alele Museum on several occasions looking for Amram Enos, the Archivist, but did not find him and again was not able to survey the National Archives, which are located in two containers adjacent to the Museum. Renovations were underway on the ground floor of the Museum in order to provide better accommodation for the archives. I was not able to meet up with Judge Dee Johnson to discuss the possibility of microfilming parts of the Supreme Court archives.

PMB 1172
JOHNSON, Gifford (1956–   )
Marshall Islands Resource Materials, 1946–1993   
Reels 1-17    35mm microfilm
Originals held at College of the Marshall Islands Library        Available for reference

NOTE.    Giff Johnson is a professional journalist, currently editing The Marshall Islands Journal. He helped form the Micronesia Support Committee in Honolulu in 1975 and edited its journal until the Micronesia Support Committee merged with the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre in 1983.
CONTENTS.    The Marshall Islands Resource Materials include administrative papers and publications of the Micronesia Support Committee, together with materials gathered for its campaigns in support of political independence in Micronesia and for a nuclear-free and de-militarised Pacific. The papers include: detailed documentation of and commentary on Micronesian political status negotiations, agreements and compacts, 1969-1984; files on the militarisation of Micronesia, 1973-1986; detailed files documenting the effects of nuclear tests in the Pacific, 1944-1984; and documents on waste dumping, health and education. The research potential of the Resource Materials is strengthened by Giff Johnson’s informed selection of press articles from a wide range of newspapers and periodicals. See reel list for details. See also PMB Doc 447, Micronesia Support Committee Bulletin and related publications.

Palau, 30 July – 4 August, PARBICA 9
The Biennial conferences of the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives are key events for Pacific islands archivists. This conference, organised by Naomi Ngirakamerang and her team at the Palau National Archives, was no exception.

Diamond Tauevihi noted that the PMB had microfilmed LMS church rolls, etc. (PMB 701-711) on Niue and would like to get copies of the films and a microfilm reader as the originals are no longer available. Mila Tafao indicated that the Bureau may be invited to microfilm damaged births and deaths registers on Tuvalu. Justina Nicholas confirmed that the Bureau could proceed with the first stage of the planned project in the National Archives of the Cook Islands. Naomi Ngirakamerang stated that the Palau National Archives would undertake microfilming of the Palau Constitutional Convention records itself, without PMB collaboration. Fr Francis Hezel said that he would be happy to make his own research files, containing some original material, available to the Bureau for microfilming. They are in good order occupying about two filing cabinet drawers at the Micronesian Seminar in Phonpei.

Colonia, Yap, 5-8 August 2001
I travelled from Koror to Yap with Richard Overy, the Yap State Archivist, who kindly put me up again at his house in Gagil. Mr Overy, Philip Raffilpiy, the Archives’ Assistant Manager, and I met Mr Robert Reuecho’, the Speaker, and Ms Ages Kotnay, the Chief Clerk, at the Yap State Legislature. Mrs Kotnay showed us a series of the Journal and agenda papers running from the late 1980s up to the sittings of the Legislature in 2000. Working at the Legislature, we put Mrs Kotnay’s series together with earlier copies of the Journal, sighted on the previous visit, to make a run of the Journal from 1983 to 1997, which Mr Raffilpiy and I microfilmed, making seven rolls in two and a half days. The copies of the Journal microfilmed are in English.

More recent issues of the Journal will be made available for filming on a subsequent visit. We noted copies of the Journal dating from 1967 in a locked cupboard with glass doors. However they looked like a broken set and we were not given permission to access the cupboard. It could be that earlier issues of the Journal have been microfilmed among the Trust Territory records. Mr Reuecho’ said that it would be acceptable for the Bureau to return at some stage to microfilm pre-1983 Journals. I drew up a rough list of some ephemeral reports and related publications held in the computer room at the Legislature for future reference.

PMB Doc 441
STATE OF YAP,
JOURNALS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF YAP, 1984-1993
7 reels   35mm microfilm.  Originals held at Yap State Legislature, PO Box 99, Colonia, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia,  FM 96943  Available for reference

NOTE.        Law-making powers in Yap, one of the four states that comprise the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), is vested in the State Legislature.  The legislature has operated in its current form since 1983 following the approval by referendum of the State constitution in 1982 (see PMB 1173 for further details). It has 10 members who are elected by universal adult suffrage every four years. However, the Legislature has its origins in the immediate post-World War II period when the US Navy assumed administrative responsibility for the island. In 1945-47 the Navy encouraged and helped re-establish a Council of Chiefs. In the 1950s the 10 municipal magistrates (who were also customary chiefs) began holding meetings with the then US civil administration. Technically this Council was separate from that of the chiefs, but usually represented them. During 1957-58 the municipalities were chartered, part of a process leading to the formation of a representative legislative body. In 1959 the first Yap Island Congress, as it was then called, was convened, running parallel to the Council of Magistrates.  In the 1960s Congress was expanded to include representatives from Yap's outer islands. In 1967 a new Yap District Legislature was formed, whose powers were enhanced by amendment[s] in 1978.  These developments provided the foundations for the formation of the current legislature whose session journals are included here.

The Yap Legislature has law-making powers over matters of public health, education, schooling, resource management, land use, the civil service, and also has some revenue raising abilities.  Debates and discussions over these issues are carried in the Yap Legislature Journal. 

CONTENTS    The Journal is compiled by the Office of the Speaker of the Legislature.  Issues from 1984–1997 are available here.  Each volume is 500–600 pages long, ring-bound, double-sided photocopies.  Digital copies of the Legislature Journal are held by the Office of the Speaker on diskette, including editions of the Journal since 1993.  See reel list for more details.

 
Rarotonga , 26 November – 9 December 2001, 10 April – 4 May 2002,
Cook Islands National Archives
The National Archives were stored in a run-down building in Te Ko’u Valley above Avarua until 1999 when the bulk of the archives were temporarily transferred to the National Museum building at the National Cultural Centre in Avarua. A new repository is under construction, next to the old one, in the Te Ko’u Valley, and funds have recently become available for its completion. Hundreds of cartons of the CI independent administration are stored in this incomplete new repository, but the records of the colonial administration, mainly consisting of the Resident Commissioners Office files, are now at the National Museum building.

The Resident Commissioners Office files were arranged and boxed in good order under the direction of the previous National Archivist, George Paniani, following the original filing system. However, the shelf-order of these archives was disrupted by the move from building to building. The physical condition of most of the records is stable, though there is some mould damage: the records have been fumigated; staples and pins have been removed from fully processed records. A hardcopy index is held for the Resident Commissioners Office files and an “Access” database has been used for listing records processed during the last 18 months. There does not appear to be a current accessions register in the Archives.

The Resident Commissioners Office files are very strong. The Bureau constructed a list of main file headings from Mr Paniani’s index.  The aim of the PMB project was originally to microfilm the Resident Commissioner’s correspondence with Resident Agents in the outer islands, which is held in the filing system together with Island Council files and files of Island Ordinances and By-Laws. I located the file-boxes, arranged and listed the files and in the second week microfilmed the Aitutaki Resident Agents’ general correspondence files, 1908-1967, at PMB 1192/Reels 1-5. However, these microfilms have been temporarily closed pending a reassessment of sensitive personal material in the documents.

A PMB Visiting Fellow, Barry Howarth, a colleague at the ANU who has solid archival and research skills, accompanied me on the second visit to Rarotonga, earlier this year. The Bureau worked on Cook Islands Federation period archives, other early documents and reports files. These documents, which had been pointed out to me in the survey in November, were in several piles of unsorted loose papers and unlabelled cartons, mostly held in the Archives’ computer room. They consist of:
•    minutes of the Government (Executive Council) and Parliament of the Cook Islands Federation, 1890-1901 (gaps);
•    correspondence of the British Resident and NZ Resident Commissioner, 1890-1910 (gaps);
•    minutes of the High Commissioner’s Court, 1899-1901;
•    minutes of the Rarotonga Island Council, 1917-1941;
•    and a genealogy of Rarotongan Arikis, 1909. 
Barry Howarth researched the administrative history of the period, listed the papers and completed CINA database entry forms completed for each item. The archives have been packed into 9 numbered boxes and shelved in the Archives with the Resident Commissioner’s Office files. 

Amongst the loose papers we identified a series of registered in-letters to the British Resident, Frederick Moss, kept in numerical order by date of receipt. Mr Howarth arranged these in numerical order, Nos.119-2466 (gaps), 1892-1898, chronologically inter-filing many unregistered, unnumbered, letters by date sent. One correspondence register, 1894-95, for this series was also located. In September 1898 Moss handed over to the second Resident, Lt Col William E Gudgeon, who set up a new, alpha-numeric, correspondence registration system. Although Gudgeon’s registration system continued till 1920 most of the documents in this series were top-numbered into the final Resident Commissioner’s Office filing system. The loose in-letters, held in the computer room, dated after September 1898, are probably leftovers from that top-numbering exercise. Barry Howarth arranged, and I filmed, the in-letters only to 1900, the end of the Federal period, leaving the remainder (c.0.6 shelf metres loose paper arranged in folders by registration code or by island reference) in the computer room for further work.

Some of the documents we worked on were in very poor condition. Particular sections of four of the letter-books had collapsed so badly they could not be microfilmed. By interleaving sheets of paper, as much of the letter-books was filmed as possible without causing further damage. Some of the press-copies were very faint. W & F Pascoe P/L have processed the microfilms and have reported that they are good quality.

The Resident Commissioner’s Office annual report files, 1913-28, were also filmed during the visit as they had been recommended by Mr Paniani and it was felt that they would supplement the printed annual reports previously filmed by the Bureau at PMB Doc 403.

Unfortunately, towards the end of our work, Barry Howarth fell ill with dengue fever and was hospitalised for six nights in Rarotonga, extending our stay till he was well enough to travel home. All the Cook Islands Archives and Library staff showed great concern and kindness regarding Mr Howarth’s illness, helping with hospitalisation, transport and provisions, which was greatly appreciated.

PMB 1200
COOK ISLANDS FEDERATION AND NEW ZEALAND  ADMINISTRATION:
Archives, 1890-1941     14 reels    35mm microfilm
Originals held at    National Archives of the Cook Islands, Avarua, Rarotonga.
Restricted access. Apply to the Cook Islands National Archivist, Ministry of Cultural Development, PO Box 8, Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, email culture1@oyster.net.ck, for written permission to access the microfilms.

NOTE.      Prior to the proclamation of the Cook Islands Protectorate on 27 October 1888, Rarotonga, Aitutaki and Mangaiia had Maori local legislatures (Councils), which were headed by an ariki with their respective mataiapos. These governments had grown up under missionary influence and were theocratic in character. Laws were a mixture of ecclesiastical and secular rules. All elders and deacons of the church were policemen and were responsible for due observance of the law. Atiu, Mitiaro and Mauke were still under their old laws; Mitiaro and Mauke had long been subject to Atiu.  The Federal Parliament and Government did not interfer in the internal affairs of the islands. The Constitution Act, which established the Federal Parliament, passed on 5 June 1891, provided for:
1. The local government of each island;
2. The constitution of the General Council for the Cook Islands, which was styled “the Parliament” of the Cook Islands;
3. The appointment of an Executive Council to carry out the laws made by the Parliament and to look after the well-being of the islands when Parliament was not in session; this Council was styled “the Government” of the Cook Islands;
4. That all arikis (or kings and queens) of the islands should be ex officio members of the Government;
5. That Makea Takau be appointed to the office of Chief of the Government, that her administration be subject to the approval of the British Resident, and that all letters or other public documents issued by the Government are to be signed by her.

The British Resident, Frederick Moss, was appointed in November 1890, taking over from his predecessors, CE Goodman, Honorary British Consul, 1881-1883, and Richard Exham, Acting British Vice-Consul, 1883-1891. On 12 September 1898 Moss handed over to Lt Col William E Gudgeon, who continued as the NZ Administration’s Resident Commissioner till 1909.

In 1900, when the sovereignty of Rarotonga and other Cook Islands was ceded to Britain, the Federal Parliament of the Cook Islands was abolished under the terms of the annexation. In accordance with Imperial Order in Council, 13 May 1901, the boundaries of New Zealand were extended to include Rarotonga and the other Cook Islands. The Cook and other Islands Government Act, passed by the NZ Parliament in 1901, replaced the Cook Islands Federal Parliament with a Federal Council of Arikis which had the right to make enactments known as “Federal Ordinances”. The British Resident was President of the Council, with Makea Ariki as Chief of the Government.
In December 1901 the members of the Federal Council were:  Makea Ariki, Tinomana Ariki & Pa Ariki, Rarotonga; Ngamaru Ariki & Karika Ariki, Atiu, Mauke & Mitiaro; John Trego Ariki & Nohoroa Ariki, Mangaiia; Vaiuarangi Ariki & Te Urukura Ariki,  Aitutaki;  Papu Mahuta Ariki, Penrhyn; Iesi Ariki, Rakahanga; Aporo Ariki, Manahiki.

CONTENTS.    CI Federal Government minutes 1891-96; Federal Parliament minutes, 1897-1901, and papers, 1897-99; High Commissioner’s Court minutes, 1899-1901; Aitutaki Council minutes Oct 1893; Acting British Vice-Consul letters 1884-86; British Resident correspondence register 1894-95; British Resident letters-in, 1892-1901; British Resident/Resident Commissioner letters-out 1890-95, 1897-1910 (n.b. gaps – some of these press-copy letter books are badly damaged); Ambrose Morgan case file, 1896-98; Thos H Mallett inquest file, 1899; CI Federation Acts and Determinations, 1890-97; Rarotongan Ariki genealogies, 1909; Rarotonga Island Council minutes 1917-1941; Resident Commissioner’s office annual report files, 1913-28. See Reel List for details.



Rhys Richards,
Honolulu: Centre of Trans-Pacific Trade.  Shipping Arrivals and Departures 1820-1840,

Published jointly by the Hawaiian Historical Society and the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau.

Copies are available from the Bureau for AU$30.00, plus postage.

 
 
RECENT PAMBU MICROFILM TITLES: MANUSCRIPTS & PRINTED DOCUMENT SERIES


PMB 1160       TSCHAUDER, Fr John: papers on the history of the Catholic Missions in Papua New Guinea and other parts of Melanesia, 1845-1996.  Reels 1-15. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1164       GROVES, William Charles (1898-1967). Papers relating to education in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, 1922-1962. Reels 1-9. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1172       JOHNSON, Gifford (1956-   ): Marshall Islands Resource Materials, 1946-1993. Reels 1-17. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1174       J. T. ARUNDEL & CO and PACIFIC ISLANDS COMPANY LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN OFFICE: correspondence files, 1892-1904. Reels 1-8. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1175       PACIFIC ISLANDS COMPANY LIMITED and PACIFIC PHOSPHATE COMPANY LIMITED, LONDON OFFICE: correspondence files, 1896-1908. Reels 1-14. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1184       ARCHER, Fred Palmer (1890-1977): papers relating to plantations in Wuvulu, Bougainville and Buka, Papua New Guinea, 1923-1974. Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1187       SOLOMON ISLANDS NATIONAL UNION OF WORKERS: archives, 1975-1999. Reels 1-4. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1188       GROVES, W. C. (1898-1967): Ethnographic Studies of New Ireland (PNG), 1932-1966. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1190       HERLIHY, Joan M.: Papers relating to Provincial and Local Government in the Solomon Islands, 1970s-1980s. Reels 1-4. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1192       COOK ISLANDS ADMINISTRATION, Resident Commissioner’s Office: Correspondence with Resident Agents in the outer islands, 1902-1967. Reels 1-5. (Temporarily closed)

PMB 1194       COCKS, Rev. Norman F.: Struts and Frets His Hour, 1987. The autobiography of the Australian and New Zealand Secretary of the London Missionary Society, 1945-1970. 1 reel. (Available for reference).

PMB 1195       AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS: Reports on the trade union movement in the Pacific Islands, 1981-1997. 1 reel. (Available for reference)

PMB 1196       CROZIER, Dorothy (1918-2001): Research papers on the Western Pacific, particularly Tonga and Fiji, 1936-1977. Reels 1-12. (Available for reference)

PMB 1197       THOMAS, Kenneth H. (1904-1973): Patrol Reports and other Papers relating to the Sepik Region, Papua New Guinea, 1928-1934. Reels 1-3. (Available for reference)

PMB 1198       NEIL, E. G. (     ): Samoan Journal, 1902-1903. 1 reel. (Restricted access till Dec 2004, then available for reference.)

PMB 1199       HAMILTON, Graham (1946-     ): Patrol Reports and related papers, Milne Bay and New Britain, Papua New Guinea, 1960-1967. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1200       COOK ISLANDS FEDERATION AND NEW ZEALAND ADMINISTRATION: archives, 1890-1941. Reels 1-14. (Restriced access.)

PMB Doc 441 JOURNALS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF YAP, 1984-1993. Reels 1-7. (Available for reference.)

PMB Doc 447 MICRONESIA SUPPORT COMMITTEE BULLETIN, 1975-1982, and related publications, 1971-1990. Reels 1-2. (Available for reference.)

PMB Doc 448 OUTRIGGER Madang Teachers News, 1970-1973 (gaps). 1 reel. (Available for reference.)

PMB Doc 449 THE TEACHER (PNG Teachers’ Association), Nos.1-23, 1971-1974. 1 reel (Available for reference.)

PMB Doc 450 PASSER SOLITARIUS (Society of the Divine Word Mission, Wewak, PNG), 1959-1966 (gaps). 1 reel. (Available for reference.)

PMB Doc 451 PAPUA NEW GUINEA JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTY AND FISHERIES, and predecessor titles, Vols.1-35, 1935-1990. Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.)

PMB Doc 452 TERRITORY OF NEW GUINEA, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, LEAFLET, Nos. 1-70 (gaps), 1924-1934. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)

Please contact Pambu or see PMB website http://rspas.anu.edu.au/pambu/ for full list of microfilm titles and detailed reel lists.
Unrestricted titles are available for purchase from the Bureau.  Microfilm prices are as follows:
Australia:  Silver Halide AU$75.00/ reel (includes GST), plus freight.  Vesicular AU$70.00/reel (includes GST), plus freight
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