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Pacific Manuscripts Bureau Newsletter

    Series 5,  No. 15                            November 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
Western Pacific High Commission Archives Arrive in Auckland 
Comment on GEIC Archives by Richard Overy
Reverend J. Graham Miller’s Vanuatu Files
Pacific Islands Archives at the South Australian Museum
Bud Watkins’ Papuan Patrol Reports    
AusAid Library and AusAid Project Reports 
NLA Digitising Pictorial Material in the Hurley and Spencer Collections 
Fr Philip Gibbs SVD, Archives Projects at the Melanesian Institute, Goroka, PNG
Susan Cochrane’s Contemporary Pacific Art Archives
New Guide to Pacific National Archives and Records Laws
The Fiji Oral History Project 
Recent PMB Microfilm Titles


News from Canberra

The shipment of the archives of the Western Pacific High Commission (WPHC) from London to Auckland is a major event in the history of Pacific archives administration. Heather Yasamee, the Manager of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historical Records Department transferred the archives to Stephen Innes, the Special Collections Librarian at the University of Auckland, in an official ceremony on 9 October. Acquisition of the WPHC archives marks the University of Auckland’s New Zealand and Pacific Collection, which already has a fine collection of Pacific islands official publications, as one of the strongest Pacific research resource centres outside of Hawai’i. Official reports on the transfer are included in this issue of Pambu. The Bureau was very pleased to receive a visit from Heather Yasamee on her way back to London from Auckland.
 


The papers of Dorothy Crozier, the first Western Pacific archivist, which were transferred to the Bureau last year have been arranged and parts of them are now available on PMB microfilm. The Crozier papers included papers of Shirley Baker, the first Premier of Tonga, and his daughter Beatrice. Mrs Sioana Faupula was appointed as a Visiting Fellow at the Bureau to identify the Baker papers many of which are in Tongan. Lists of both record groups are available from the Bureau.
The Bureau has been systematically microfilming the correspondence, 1892-1919, of J T Arundel & Co, the Pacific Islands Co Ltd and the Pacific Phosphate Co Ltd — the predecessor companies of the British Phosphate Commissioners. This is a joint project being undertaken with the National Archives of Australia which holds the original records in Melbourne. The records document trading operations and the early years of the guano trade. Professor Barrie Macdonald commented that he would put the PIC material along side the early Burns Philp reports, like those by Frederick Wallin on the Gilbert, Ellice and Marshall Groups (see Buckley and Klugman, South Pacific Focus), as being of general interest and not just relevant to the firm itself. The Bureau is now about half-way through the project having microfilmed the companies’ London and Australian Office correspondence to 1909. The next stage will focus on correspondence from the companies’ agents in Nauru and Ocean Island (Banaba).
The Bureau has just completed arrangement of a second batch of Joan Herlihy’s collection of reports and related documents on the Solomon Islands. The reports, dating from 1945 till the early 1980s, document many aspects of Solomon Islands economic and political development including employment, agriculture, shipping and other transport, communications, cooperatives and trade unions, but they focus on constitutional development at all levels of national, provincial and local government.
Professor Hank Nelson has lent the Bureau a nice set of United Nations Trusteeship Council Reports of Visiting Missions to Trust Territories in the Pacific, mainly New Guinea, 1950-1971, which the Bureau has microfilmed.
Pamela Swadling arranged with Ottmar Maier for his Chimbu stone-tool data-sheets to be microfilmed by the Bureau. In the period 1958-63 Mr Maier, who was a lay missionary builder with the Divine Word Mission, collected 234 stone tools in the Chimbu Province documenting them in detail, including photographs of the stone implements and the people who sold/gave them to Mr Maier. The collection was eventually sold to the Städtische Museum für Völkerkunde in Frankfurt. Robin Hide commented that the datasheets are a nice window on the process of artefact collection by a lay missionary at that time (and why the Chimbu were so willing to dispose of them).
The South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions (SPOCTU) held its inaugural conference in Suva in 1990. A wing of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Asia-Pacific Regional Organisation, SPOCTU operated out of Brisbane, holding biennial conferences and many training sessions in the Pacific islands till it was wound-up in 1999. With the help of the PMB, the SPOCTU records were transferred to the Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the ANU. The Bureau has now begun microfilming parts of the SPOCTU archives focusing on steering committee and conference minutes and related papers and files on its affiliated trade union peak councils in Fiji, Vanuatu, PNG, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Samoa. A complementary set of reports on Pacific trade unions, 1981-1997, gathered by Alan Matheson, International Officer with the Australian Council of Trade Unions, has also been microfilmed by the Bureau.
The PMB Management Committee met in Auckland in February and again in Canberra in September. Among other things the possibility of an increase in PMB subscriptions was discussed without resolution at both meetings. As the rate of subscription has not been adjusted for ten years, the Bureau is now dependent on sales of microfilm to meet its recurrent costs. The matter will be discussed again at the Management Committee meeting to be held in Apia next month.
A model Nauruan canoe was presented to the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau in the late 1960s by the heirs of the late Mrs Dorothea Garsia, who died in Canberra in May 1968. Mrs Garsia was the widow of Commander Rupert C. Garsia, Administrator of Nauru from 1933 to 1938. Commander Garsia died in 1954.
As far as is known, the Nauruans have not made canoes of the type modelled since before World War II.  However, examples of this type are to be found in the Horniman Museum, London, and the Museum of Völkerkunde, Hamburg.
The model had become dilapidated over the years while on display in the Coombs Building. Dorothy McIntosh, the Administrator in the Division of Pacific and Asian History, sent the canoe to the University of Canberra’s Conservation of Cultural Materials Program for restoration. A student, Stacey Hargraves, cleaned decades of dust from the pandanus sail, wove patches for it, mended the rigging, raised the mast, and lashed the outrigger and boom which had come adrift. It took many hours of pains-taking work under the supervision of her lecturer, Beata Tworek-Matuszkiewicz. The result is a wonderfully restored Nauruan canoe which will find an honourable place in the Coombs Building, properly protected in a glass case.


       The Conservation of Cultural Materials Program is less likely to sail onward. The University of Canberra has withdrawn support for the course on the grounds that it is too expensive. Unfortunately there are no other specialist courses for cultural materials conservators in Australia. If the Program does fold the long-term effect on heritage materials in Australia will be devastating.

Ewan Maidment
PMB Executive Officer
November 2002
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Western Pacific High Commission Archives Arrive in Auckland
University of Auckland press release, 10 Oct 2002.

Three container loads of Western Pacific history were returned to the region on 9 October when the British Government formally transferred its unique and extensive Western Pacific Archive to the University of Auckland.
The Western Pacific Archive captures a century's worth of the life and times of the Western Pacific Islanders through unique records, photographs, maps and other memorabilia covering the period 1877-1978. The collection is of great importance because of the light it sheds on indigenous communities and colonial policy over a long period. It is an invaluable record of a unique period in the development of the region.
VIPs at the ceremony included Heather Yasamee of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr Richard Fell, Mr Stephen Turner (Consul-General), and Dr John Hood, Vice-Chancellor.
"Pacific researchers over the years have experienced frustration trying to access this material, and since much of the relevant research is conducted in this region, there are obvious geographical advantages in locating the archive in Auckland," says Stephen Innes, Special Collections Librarian at the University.
The acquisition reflects and reinforces the University's strength as a centre for Pacific research, which has already seen the creation of the Centre for Pacific Studies in 1990 and the Fale Pasifika, currently under development.
The archive is complemented by the other Pacific resources of the New Zealand and Pacific Collection and Special Collections at the University. These are second only to the University of Hawaii in comprehensiveness, and together provide a draw card for researchers. The prospect of the transfer of the Western Pacific Archive has already sparked a lot of interest among researchers, both in New Zealand and abroad.
The transfer is the result of several years of negotiation, review and physical preparation, including substantial conservation work, by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has recently published a commemorative history of the archive, tracing the origins and development of the Western Pacific High Commission and reproducing a selection of documents.
"Much of the value of an archive lies in the use that can be made of it," says Heather Yasamee from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who will present the archive to the University.
"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's transfer of the Western Pacific Archive and associated collections to The University of Auckland is designed to make this historic archive more readily available for researchers in the region to use and enjoy."
"By returning this archive to the Pacific region, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is returning part of the region's history."
At 600 linear metres, most of the archive will be housed in a commercial storage facility, but access to the materials will be provided in the Special Collections reading room, part of the University's General Library refurbishment.
In 1976, Bruce T. Burne, then Archivist of the Western Pacific Archive, wrote: "The records form... an entire and integrated whole. As such, not only must they be invaluable and of prime interest to the Governments of the region, but they also constitute by far the most important depository of historical and other information in the entire Pacific region, covering as they do the major part of the South Seas inhabited by a wide variety of Polynesians, Micronesians and Melanesians."
"To historians, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers and other social scientists the value of the documentation they contain is incalculable..."
Archive Contact: Stephen Innes Special Collections Librarian General Library / Te Herenga Matauranga Whanui
University of Auckland
email: s.innes@auckland.ac.nz

Further Notes:
The bulk of the records belong to the Western Pacific High Commission collection, which documents the daily routine business between the High Commissioner and his staff. It encompasses the full span of daily life in the High Commission, covering the social, political, economic, military, diplomatic, judicial and administrative aspects of the Commission's business and the territories under its jurisdiction.
In addition, the records of the British Agent and Consul in Tonga (BCT) and the New Hebrides British Service (NHBS) have also been transferred to Auckland, with the kind agreement of the governments of Tonga and Vanuatu.
The NHBS collection contains the correspondence of the Resident Commissioner with his District Agents and the High Commission itself. The BCT files reflect the unusual nature of Britain's relationship with Tonga, which was never a formal colony.
The archive also includes papers relating to Pitcairn, which continues to be an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. A copy set of Pitcairn papers in the Western Pacific High Commission files is therefore kept in London, together with a separate collection of Pitcairn territorial records.
The history of the Western Pacific Archive is inextricably intertwined with that of the region it documents. The Western Pacific High Commission was established by Order in Council in 1877. For the first 75 years of its existence it was located in Fiji, where the posts of High Commissioner and Governor of Fiji were held conjointly.
A further Order in Council in 1893 redefined the High Commissioner's jurisdiction, limiting it to territories under British control. By 1900 his responsibilities comprised the Solomon Islands, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, the New Hebrides, Tonga and Pitcairn.
In 1952 the posts of High Commissioner and Governor of Fiji were separated and the Western Pacific High Commission moved to Honiara (where the High Commissioner became concurrently Governor of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate). The earlier records remained in Suva where they were administered as part of the newly created Central Archives of Fiji and the Western Pacific.
When Fiji became independent in 1970, the Fijian records were transferred to its new government and the Central Archives were dissolved. The remaining collections formed the newly established Western Pacific Archive.
At this time the archive comprised the files of the High Commission itself, together with records relating to the New Hebrides British Service (NHBS), the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP), the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC), the British Agent (later Commissioner and Consul) of Tonga (BCT) and Pitcairn (PIT). For the GEIC and BSIP, the collection contains virtually the only copies of correspondence with the High Commission up to 1942, the records of the two resident Commissioners having been almost totally destroyed during the Japanese invasion and occupation in the Second World War.
As the High Commissioner's responsibilities dwindled with the progress of the colonial territories to independence, the Western Pacific High Commission became increasingly redundant and in 1978 the Western Pacific Archive itself closed. The records of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were sent to Tarawa (Kiribati) and Funafuti (Tuvalu); those of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate were sent to Honiara; and those of the Western Pacific High Commission were sent to London together with records relating to Pitcairn, Tonga and the New Hebrides. It is these records that will be handed to The University of Auckland on 9 October.
Electronic photos of some of the documents are available on request.
~~~~~
Rose Holley BA (Hons) ALA
Digital Projects Librarian
Digital Services
General Library, University of Auckland.
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Comment on GEIC Archives
by Richard Overy

Extract from message sent to Stephen Innes, University of Auckland, following the release of a press statement on the WPHC Records:
_____
The press release says "The records of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were sent to Tarawa (Kiribati)and Funafuti (Tuvalu)".
While this is not totally inaccurate, it might mislead some into thinking that the records now with the University of Auckland do not contain records for the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati and Tuvalu respectively). The records which were sent to Tarawa and Funafuti in late 1978 were the internal administrative territorial records of the Resident Commissioner (later Governor) of the Gilbert Islands & the Ellice Islands. These were records that had been sent from the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands in the 1960s and 1970s for safe-keeping and for lack of suitable local facilities.The records generally post-dated WWII though there were a very few items for the period from 1893 to about 1940. I happen to know this because I was the Gilbert Islands Archivist and it was I who went to Suva (while Bruce Burne was still Archivist) from Tarawa in 1977 for the purpose of examining, identifying, and noting Gilbert and Ellice Islands records. The GI records were sent to me at Tarawa in 1978.
The WPHC records still contain the vastly greater volume of information relating to the Gilbert Islands Protectorate (1893-1916), the Gilbert, Ellice and Union Islands Protectorate - later Colony (1916-1922), and the Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony (1922 - c1976). Neither Kiribati nor Tuvalu has ever had any records (not even microfilm copies of those records filmed - up to about 1922 I think) of WPHC material relating to those territories and their interests.
In light of the above, I suggest there is a need to make clearer the distinction between what was sent to Tarawa and Funafuti in 1978 (their own internally created records only) and what remained in Suva as part of the Western Pacific Archives holdings.
By way of additional comment that it is sad that nobody seems to have though fit to at least invite Bruce Burne (living in Sydney) along to the hand-over ceremony. Bruce fought long and hard for preservation of the integrity of the collection, and for its need to remain in the Pacific region. Of his predecessors, Dorothy Crozier died not too long ago in Australia, Ian Diamond still lives in Australia in retirement, and Bruce's only successor, acting Archivist Patrick MacDonald (former Colonial Secretary in Fiji) died quite some time ago.
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Reverend J. Graham Miller’s Vanatu Files

My Vanuatu missionary library is deposited, along with my theological library, with the NSW Presbyterian Theological Centre,
77 Shaftesbury Road, Burwood, NSW 2134;
Phone (02) 9744.1977; Fax: (02) 9744.5970:
Email <adminpt@syd.wow.aust.com>:
Website: WWW.presbyterian.org.au/ptcsyd.
The relevant library books are: most of the early missionary biographies, autobiographies, available diaries and journals relating to the New Hebrides Presbyterian Mission, from 1848.
PMB has already microfilmed the early Mission Minutes (before 1872), the Synod Minutes from 1872-1948, and the General Assembly and Mission Council Minutes for some time thereafter; and Jottings (JG Paton Fund).
The London Missionary Society, from John Williams visit in 1839, features in the early Mission Minutes up to 1872.  There are a few LMS books also.
The Melanesian Mission is recorded in Miss Yonge’s two volume life of Bishop Patteson, and in later histories of the Mission.
The Roman Catholic Mission, almost contemporary with Geddie (1848) lapsed and was recommenced later. A recent volume provides a paperback record (by M. Monnier).
Of the 113 files (all numbered) I note below such as relate to Vanuatu. They comprise miscellaneous information, articles and corres-pondence – some useful, some fragmentary:
26  The John Geddie diaries (1848-1872) – photocopies of originals.
27  The Geddies on Aneityum (1848-1892).
28  The Rev. John and Jessie Inglis (Aneityum 1852-1872).
29  Futuna: Rev. Dr Wm Gunn and Mrs Gunn (1881-1917) and photocopies of his two books.
30  Rev. Dr John G. Paton; Tanna 1858-1862, and Aniwa, 1868-1881, and in Australia.
31  Tanna: Houlton Forlong and independent missionary–traders (1894-1908).
32  East Tanna: Rev. Wm Gray and Mrs Gray (1882-1894).  PMB have microfilms.  Rev. Dr Thomson Macmillan and Mrs Macmillan (1896-1936).
33  West Tanna: Rev. F.H.L. Paton and Mrs Paton (1896-1902); Rev. Dr J. Campbell Nicholson and Mrs Micholson (1903-1917).
34  Nguna, N. Efate: Rev. Peter Milne and Mrs Milne (1869-1924).  His valuable diaries in the Hocken Library, University of Otago, Dunedin.  Peter Milne of Nguna. Photocopies of pages of diary (1889-1905) in this file.
35  Tongoa and Shepherd Islands (from 1875): Milne, Michelsen, Nottage, Miller.
36  Tongoa: miscellaneous (1919-1947).
37  Epi (north): Tasmanian Mission. W. Epi (1882-1930): Rev. R.M. Fraser, T.E. Riddle, J.B. Weir.
38  Epi. Diaries, Mrs Jessie Murray, Dr Vernon Davies, Mrs Ruth Davies (nee Murray).
39  Epi, N.E. Epi: Rev. Thomas Smaill and Mrs Smaill.
40  S.E. Epi: from 1930 (Tongoa district).
41  Ambrym, North: Rev. W.B. Murray (1883-1885), Rev. Chas Murray (1885-1889), Dr Robert Lamb (1892 ff.)
42  Ambrym: Dr J.T. Bowie, Rev. Fleming, Mansfield and W.F.Paton.
43  Paama and Lopevi: Rev. R.M. Frater and Mrs Frater (and S.E. Ambrym).
44  Malekula (1) Aulua and S. Malekula: Rev. T.W. Leggatt and Rev. J.S. Jaffray (from 1887).
45  Malekula (2) Pangkumu – Onua (1887 on): (i) Alexander Morton (ii) Fred J. Paton.
46  Malekula (3) Uripio and Lambubu; Wala and N. Malekula; South West Bay.
47  Malo and Tutuba (1887-1952): J.D. Landels, D.L. Paterson, Dr Ewen Mackenzie, Stewart, E.L. Sykes.
48  Santo (1) Tangoa and S. Santo (1887): Dr Joseph Annand; Cape Lisburu and Tasiriki (1896): Rev. F.G. Bowie, J.W.P. Gillan.
49  Santo (2) N.W. Santo-Nogugu: Rev. J. Noble Mackenzie (1895-1909).
50  Santo (3) and see his biography in library, Mackenzie, Man of Mission, by his daughter Dr Helen Mackenzie.
51  Santo (4): miscellaneous material on N.W. Santo.
52  Santo (5) Big Bay – N. Santo (1896 on): Dr Sandilands, C.E. Yates, W. Mackay, W. Anderson.  Also Hog Harbour, East Santo (1898 on): Dr J.T. Bowie, Dr Ewen Mackenzie, W. Anderson.
53  Santo (6): Teachers’ Training Institute Tangoa, S. Santo: Student treks into inland Santo with J.G. Miller 1947, 1948;  Report on Naked Cult to Journal of Polynesian Society 1948.
54    Sir John Ferguson’s, A Bibliography of the New Hebrides and History of the Mission Press.
55    R.T.E. Latham’s thesis (Melbourne University); The New Hebrides Condominium, 1930; Correspondence re Edward Jacomb (lawyer in Vila) with W.E. Stober.
Rev. J. Graham Miller
August 2002
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Pacific Islands Archives at the South Australian Museum

The Bureau microfilmed the Samoan Journal of the Rev. E G Neil at the South Australian Museum in March this year. Barry Craig, the Museum’s Curator of Foreign Ethnology, helped set up that project and also guided the Bureau to the pre-War Sepik patrol reports of Kenneth Thomas held by his daughter, Mrs Helen Inglis, at Victor Harbor. Barry also mentioned that the Museum holds other Pacific archives, mainly relating to collectors, including:
•    BARTLETT PAPERS. Methodist missionary Massim area. Papers uncatalogued. Son has some more material.
•    DRAPER. Baptist missionary. Cultural notes Maprik. Dictionary of Tiom language. Papers uncatalogued.
•    REV ARTHUR CHIGNELL. Anglican missionary, 21 years in Papua. SAM has materials from 1908.
•    MILTON J LEWIS. Medical Assistant in PNG. SAM has his register journal of collecting in PNG and his diary of a medical patrol in 1962.
•    JOHN WOMERSLEY. Director Lae Herbarium after WWII. SAM has photos and some objects. Maybe reports with his family.
•    CAPT. A J HUNTER. Australian Expeditionary Forces WWI: "Experiences of a District Officer in Mandated Territory of New Guinea", 28pp;  "Across the Bismark Mountains to the Interior of New Guinea, 1930-1931" (which includes photographs). SAM has a big collection of objects which Capt. Hunter collected, mainly from the Sepik Coast.

Fran Zilio, SA Museum Archivist, kindly sent the Bureau the following list of the Museum’s registered Pacific archives, though it is far from complete. Ms Zilio noted that the collections mainly include glass negatives.
•    ASHWORTH (AA 9)  Photos of prehistoric stone objects from the Minj Wahgi Valley in the possession of James Fenton, District Officer for Minj.
•    GEORGE BLYTH (AA 33)  Raw data from tests given to NG people to test intelligence & medical phenomema. Correspondence with Tindale re NG phonetics, currency, customs, grammar etc. Also includes ethnographic specimens sent to SAM.
•    L F BOWDEN (AA 35)  Glass negs - people in Maprik Village, Wewak, NG.
•    M BOYCE (AA 38)  Glass negs - shell trumpets from NG.
•    FREUND (AA 63)  Glass neg of man wearing a bark cloth tape, Kukukuku tribe, NG. (Freund photos and artefact collection written up by P. Fitzpatrick in Records of the South Australian Museum (1999) 31,2:181-214).
•    D S DAVIDSON (AA 68)  Glass negs - various arts & crafts including shields, spears, clubs & boomerangs.
•    R C ELSMORE (AA 88)  Glass negs - hidden village & huts.
•    REV FELLOWES (AA 89)  Glass negs - people in Kiriwina, Trobriand Islands photo album.
•    FREUND (AA 100)  Glass negs and photo album. (See Freund above.)
•    GUISE (AA 117)  Glass negs - Lakatoi, girls dancing.
•    FATHER GUIVARCH (AA 118)  Glass negs - fishing at Orokolo Crk, man from Papuan mountain tribe.
•    GUNNARSSON HAGMAN (AA 119)  Glass negs - people and activities.
•    HUNTER (AA 145)  Glass negs and film negs – Bismarck.

A note on Telefomin records. Not long after the PMB’s visit to the South Australian Museum Barry Craig left on a fieldtrip to Telefomin and elsewhere in New Guinea. Joel Robbins of UCSD had used administration records in the Telefomin sub-district office about 10 years ago. Barry checked whether the records were still there, but was unable to locate them. A new office has been built and the old building is empty.
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Bud Watkins’ Papuan Patrol Reports

Further to Nancy Lutton’s article on New Guinea patrol reports in the last issue of Pambu, readers might be interested to note that the Bureau has microfilmed a number of pre-War Papuan patrol reports. For example, Mr Peter Watkins of Nerang in Queensland, had collected his father’s Papuan reports and allowed the Bureau to microfilm them a few years ago.
Alwyn Edward Watkins went to Papua to serve as a Patrol Officer under the Lieutenant Governorship of Sir Hubert Murray at the age of 21, in 1929. Initially, he was sent to work in and around the district and islands of the eastern end of the Territory. Later, he served for some time with Ronald Gordon Speedie and assisted in the opening up of the Goilala district, north west of Port Moresby. With Speedie, he made the first European ascent of Mount Yule in May of 1935.
On various furloughs to Australia, Bud attended Sydney University and studied law, tropical medicine and, under Professor A. P. Elkin, anthropology. From late 1936 until late 1940, Bud was District Officer successively at Rigo, Abau Island, Samarai Island and Buna before returning to Port Moresby as a Magistrate. During several of his patrols as a District Officer, Bud also escorted a number of visiting anthropologists and medical figures, including Dr. Margaret Mead and Dr. Frederick Clements.
During World War II Watkins joined the Army, serving in his administrative post each morning and training as a soldier each afternoon. However, he took seriously ill and was shipped south to Australia early in 1942. After about eighteen months of recuperation, he served with the Department of External Territories in Canberra until October 1945, when he returned to Port Moresby and took up the post of senior District Magistrate until he retired through ill health in 1948.  (Provided by Peter R. Watkins, son of the above.)
•    Patrol Report No.12 of 1933/34: Report of Patrol by A. E. Watkins to Normanby Island and Sanaroa Island, 14 Dec 1933-26 Jan 1934.
•    Patrol Report No.13 of 1933/34: Report of Patrol to South East Coast District, 25 Feb-28 Mar 1934.
•    Patrol Report No.17 of 1933/34: Report of Patrol by A E Watkins to Goodenough Island, 24 May-27 Jun 1934.
•    Patrol Report No.6 of 1934/35: Report of Patrol by A E Watkins to Mount Yule Dist., 13-28 Dec 1934.
•    Patrol Report No.7 of 1934/35: Report of Patrol by A E Watkins to the Kanosia District, 5-12 Jan 1935.
•    Patrol Report No. 5 of 1934/35: Report of Patrol by A E Watkins from Kairuku to Goilala Police Camp, 23 Jan-9 Feb 1935.
•    Patrol Report No.6 of 1934/35: Report of Patrol by A E Watkins to Vetapu Valley, 27 Feb-22 Mar 1935.
•    Report of Patrol to Karuama (Mt. Yule) District by R G Speedie and A E Watkins, 4 Apr-26 May 1935.
•    Report of Patrol by A E Watkins from Goilala Police Camp to Kairuku, 3-14 Jun 1935.
•    Patrol report No.1 of 1935/36: Report of Patrol by A E Watkins, 19 Jun-6 Jul 1935.
•    Patrol Report No.1 of 1935/36: Report of Patrol by A E Watkins to Goilala Police Camp, 9 Jul-2 Sep 1935.

PMB 1143
WATKINS, Alwyn Edward (1908-1988)
Patrol Reports,1934-1935
1 reel; 35mm microfilm
Available for reference
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AusAid Library and AusAid Project Reports

Further to the report in the May 2001 Pambu the AusAid Library has now been incorporated into AusAid’s Information and Research Services Unit, formerly the Statistics Unit. There is no longer any public access to the library. The reports on Australian overseas aid projects, consisting of several thousand items, have been transferred to off-site storage. Consideration is being given to creating electronic access to the reports, but there is no time frame for their digitisation. At the moment there in no outside access to the reports.

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NLA Digitising Pictorial Material in the Hurley and Spencer Collections

Erica Ryan has let the Bureau know that pictorial material in the papers of Frank Hurley and of Margaret and Terrence Spencer have been digitised by the Pictorial Section of the National Library of Australia.
The National Library embarked upon its major digitisation project in August 2001 in an attempt to provide greater access to the National Library’s wide and diverse collection. The project is described at
http://www.nla.gov.au/digital/program.html
The pictures are available online via the Pictures Catalogue: http://www.nla.gov.au/catalogue/pictures/.
The National Library has digitised more than 10,000 negatives taken by Frank Hurley, explorer, photographer and pioneer film-producer (1885-1962), between 1911 and 1962. About 100 of them document his travels in New Guinea. The Bureau microfilmed Hurley papers (PMB 916) relating to his visit to the Western District of Papua in 1923 where he made the film Pearls and Savages.
The Library has also digitised the collection of about 1,200 images 35mm slides (mainly colour) taken by Dr Terence and Dr Margaret Spencer during the course of their work in the investigation and control of malaria for the Malaria Control Service of the Department of Public Health of Papua New Guinea between 1953 and 1978: Port Moresby, 1953; the Wahgi Valley (Western Highlands of New Guinea), 1954-1955; the D'Entrecasteaux Islands of Papua, 1956-1959; the New Guinea Islands including Tasmans and Mortlocks, 1960-1961; Bougainville Island, 1972; Port Moresby, 1975-1978.
Photographs include landscapes, village life, ceremonies and patrol work. Dr. Margaret Spencer, an entomologist, and Dr Terence Spencer, a malariologist, worked in epidemiological studies, specifically on anopheline fauna and malaria control in Papua New Guinea from the 1950s to 1978.
The Bureau organised and microfilmed Dr Spencer’s diaries, correspondence, patrol records and other papers at PMB 1146.


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Archives Projects at the Melanesian Institute, Goroka, PNG

At the Melanesian Institute in Goroka we have a paper clippings project in which, starting around 1998, we go through the two PNG daily newspapers: The Post-Courier, and the National, and mark any articles of social-economic, socio-religious, or socio-political interest. Using the software “Ask Sam” we have a template into which a typist enters the publication details of each entry. We are presuming that key words or phrases will appear in either the title or the first and last paragraph, so we have the typist enter those as they appear in the paper.  The articles are then photocopied and filed.  We now have over 3,000 entries and with “Ask Sam” it is a relatively simply matter of searching for articles relevant to any particular search topic.
Enga Life Testimony’s Project, PNG.
At the Melanesian Institute, Goroka, I have a project whereby my research assistant in the Enga Province interviews people, mostly elderly people about their lives and what were the most significant moments in their lives.  Since the project is identified with the Catholic church, often the significant moments relate to their Christian lives, however themes of general interest often occur, particularly how people deal with conflictual situations such as tribal warfare or husbands entering into polygamous relationships.  The interviews are transcribed from tape into exercise books, either in the original Enga language or translated into Melanesian Pidgin.  Then we have entered the material from the exercise books onto computer.  So far, using Microsoft Word, we have entered 5,000 hand-written pages onto the computer, which amounts to about 1,000 single spaced pages on the computer.  Each of the 60 books have been entered as a separate file and now I am looking for a suitable search program to search for words or expressions through multiple files.  Unfortunately using Microsoft Word one has to go through the laborious process in Windows Explorer of identifying which files contain a word or phrase and then opening each file identified so as to use “find” to locate the word or phrase itself in the file/document.
The purpose of the exercise is to create a data-base of life histories of Enga people, some of whom have died already since the interviews were recorded, and secondly to use the material to produce some books on Enga oral history.   If I can locate a suitable search program to search multiple files this will greatly facilitate the searching and writing.
Philip Gibbs, Melanesian Institute, PO Box 571, Goroka, EHP, Papua New Guinea
Susan Cochrane’s Contemporary Pacific Art Archives

Dr Susan Cochrane, a noted Australian researcher and writer on Pacific Islander and Australian Aboriginal artworks, has transferred some of her research materials to the Bureau, on a temporary basis, for safe keeping.
Dr Cochrane has agreed to make the papers available to researchers who have her written permission. No photographs or slides may be reproduced without Dr Cochrane’s permission.
The archives consists of 26 boxes, labelled as follows:
•    Pacific Arts Association; International Symposium SA Museum; Research essay Museum of Victoria.
•    Oceanic Arts course material; Waigani Seminar UPNG 1988; Exhibition proposals.
•    PNG Arts Advisers P/L; Pacific Link; Agence de Developpement de la Culture Kanak.
•    Essays, articles, Asia Pacific Triennial 1996 & 1999.
•    Luk Luk Gen (Look Again) Touring Exhibition; PNG Contemporary Art 1989-92.
•    Festival of Pacific Arts.
•    Boomalli “Aboriginal Design Exhibition 1988”; Aboriginal Art ephemera; Aboriginal Art course materials; reviews.
•    Book Mss.; Béréfava (English and French); Aboriginal Art in the Australian Museum.
•    Susan Cochrane MA (Hons.) thesis.
•    Susan Cochrane PhD thesis.
•    UNESCO Inventory Pacific Artefacts.
•    Susan Cochrane photo albums.
•    Duplicate slides and documentation of Cochrane PNG Archive – Percival and Renata Cochrane. Originals at Michael Birt Library, University of Wollongong.
•    Australian Indigenous Cultural Network (AICN); Museums/ Art galleries website; Aboriginal Collections drafts.
•    “Shrines”, Olympic Arts Festival 2000.
•    Photocopies for research.
•    Photos PNG, New Caledonia 1995-1996.
•    Photos Aboriginal Art.
•    Press books, reviews, references, shrines, CCT, etc. 1999-2000.
•    Family photo albums and Pacific.
•    Unlabelled. Field notebooks; New Caledonia, CCT, Expos, Clippings; PNG photos; slides in boxes; ephemera; newsletters.
•    Unlabelled. Field notebooks, diaries, video cassettes.
•    Aboriginal art catalogues and articles.
•    Unlabelled. Mwà Véé. Loose copies and bound volumes.
•    Unlabelled. Pacific art books.
•    Susan’s tapa dress.

New Guide to Pacific National Archives and Records Laws

The first detailed and comprehensive guide to archives and records laws throughout the Pacific Region has been published by the Pacific Regional branch of International Council on Archives (PARBICA).
From American Samoa to Vanuatu, and including New Zealand and Australia, the publication contains the legislation currently in use in twenty Pacific nations, states and territories.  These range in origin from Hawaii's 1905 Law on Public Archives and Disposal of Records to the Bill passed into law in 2001 establishing the Guam Archives.
The 250-page guide, the PARBICA Compendium of Pacific Archives Legislation, was compiled and edited by Nancy Lutton, the Chief Archivist of the National Archives and Public Records Service of Papua New Guinea from 1989 to 1992.  She was Editor of the Australian Society of Archivists’ journal Archives and Manuscripts from 1982 to 1987.  The PARBICA compendium was published in Canberra in May and costs NZ$30.  
Outgoing General Secretary of PARBICA, Evelyn Wareham, recommended the Compendium as ”a comprehensive source for archivists and legislators preparing, reviewing or studying archives legislation, and for students and scholars analysing archival frameworks in the Pacific region”.
Mr Setareki Tale, PARBICA's President and National Archivist of Fiji, said the works provided valuable source material for those “without a legal infrastructure for public records, for those that are planning on reviewing their legislation, and of course for those interested in the legal and administrative problems involved in the care of archives”.
The Compendium consists of fact sheets on each nation, state and territory providing insight into their constitutional status, geography, population, and administrative history that comprise the context for the various statutes.  Information on the current state of preparations for recordkeeping legislation in a further three Pacific countries, Samoa, Nauru and Tonga, is also included.
PARBICA member countries and states are American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Northern Marianas, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu
For further information, contact PARBICA officer Kathryn Dan at kathrynd@naa.gov.au. Order the Compendium from: PARBICA publications, c/o National Archives of Australia, PO Box 7425, Canberra Business Centre, ACT 2610, Australia. Fax: +612 6212 3650.
*        *        *
The Fiji Oral History Project
Part 1:
Part-Europeans and Europeans.

An audio oral history project to collect and conserve the memoirs and family histories of senior members of Fiji's part-European and European community


Outline of the Project
Given Fiji's prominent position as one of the most politically and economically significant countries in the South-West Pacific through the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, and its long-standing links with Australian, British, American, and New Zealand colonial and post-colonial history, this project conserves a most valuable archive of Fiji’s anecdotal history which has not until now been examined in such breadth.
Above all, the recorded stories of these citizens of Fiji, which give a fresh and immediate account both of their daily lives and of the seminal events that shaped their nation from circa 1900 to 1988, comprise a significant body of oral history that has been collected for the peoples of Fiji, for posterity.
This is because nations are built and shaped by the history their people share - so the stories told by the Fiji Oral History interviewees are part of the common inheritance of all the citizens of Fiji.
This oral history audio media project, called the Fiji Oral History Project Part 1: Part-Europeans and Europeans, comprises 28 taped interviews with 26 senior members of these communities living in Fiji and Australia. The interviews were conducted from 1998 to 1999.
They trace the history of a number of Part-European and European families in Fiji through the 19th and 20th centuries, beginning with the first arrival of their European ancestors. A fresh and vibrant collection of many previously un-recorded personal memoirs, as well as family stories passed down the generations, it is a significant new contribution to the social history and intangible heritage of Fiji  - and the South Pacific region.
 
Author of the Project
The project has been conducted by Ms Marsali Mackinnon, an experienced Australian journalist with wide knowledge of the history of Fiji's Part-European and European community, and an extensive range of personal contacts within that community.
Presentation of the Oral History Collection to the University of the South Pacific Library
From the very beginning, it was essential for the integrity of the project that the Fiji-based University of the South Pacific Library holds a copy of the oral history collection.
As a result of discussions with the USP Library by Ms Mackinnon and Canberra-based project partner the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau (within the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University) arrangements were made to formally present a copy of the collection to the USP Library in December 2002.
The Pacific Manuscripts Bureau became a major project partner in 2001, when it accepted the oral history into its official archives.
Through an arrangement between the PMB and its network of partner institutions in Australia and overseas, copies of the collection on CD have also being sent to the Yale University Library, the Melanesia Resource center at the University of California San Diego, the Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii, the University of Auckland Library, the Turnbull Library, the Mitchell Library, the National Library of Australia and the Australian National University Library. A set of the CDs will also be lodged with the Fiji Museum, an original partner in the project.
The Role of the Fiji Museum
Ms Mackinnon gratefully thanks and acknowledges the Museum of Fiji for the major role it played in supporting the project in 1998-1999.  In recognition of this role, the Museum is named as the project collaborator on all CDs and transcripts of the project.
Public Access to the Collection
All public access to the collection, in both Australian and overseas archives, is embargoed for 4 years (from April 2001 to January 2005).
The Interviewees
Those interviewed comprised:
•    Selected members of Fiji’s Part-European and European community aged 60 and above, particularly those still living in Fiji. In addition, there were three other interviewees  - the Tui Levuka, Mr Henry Sahai of Levuka, and Mr Bill (WWA) Miller, a retired District Officer with the former British colonial administration. Interviews were conducted in Suva and district (including with residents of Suva's Pearce Home for the Elderly); Levuka (Ovalau); Savu Savu (Vanua Levu); the Korolevu area of Viti Levu’s "Coral Coast"; and Lautoka. Interviews were also conducted in Australia and New Zealand.
•    Around half the interviewees were men, and half women; and Part-Europeans and Europeans are represented in the same equal proportion.
Above all, the spoken memories in this project belong to the people who were interviewed, and to their families. It will never be possible to thank and honour the participants enough.
In chronological order of interview, the participants are:
•    Lady Moira Hedstrom (nee Deitrich)
•    The late Hubert “Jumbo” Sabben
•    Mr Bill (W.W.A) Miller
•    Mrs Dorothy Walker (Order of Fiji)
•    Mrs Maureen Southwick (nee Storck)
•    Mr Henry Sahai
•    The Tui Levuka
•    Mr George Gibson
•    Mr William Moses
•    The late Mrs Dora Patterson
•    The late Captain Fred Vollmer
•    Mrs Nicky Yoshida (nee Ashley)
•    Mrs Bertha Wendt
•    Ms Alice Mahabir
•    Sir Len Usher
•    The late George Mitchell "Pa" Hazelman
•    Mr Thomas Fenton
•    Mrs Jess Jackson (nee Hibbs)
•    Mrs Betty Simpson (nee Ashley)
•    Mrs Lema Low (nee Price)
•    Mr Rodney Acraman
•    Mr Daryl Tarte
•    Mrs Judy Zundel (nee Ferrier-Watson)
•    The late Sir David Ragg
•    Mr Don Burness
•    The Hon. the late Mr Bill Clark (Order of Fiji).
“Intangible Heritage” resource
The interview segment of the project in Fiji (January-April 1999) provided unique opportunities for Ms Mackinnon to work with a small team of Fiji Museum researchers to research a significant aspect of Fiji’s history, and to assist in recording and preserving this history.
The project was designed to complement the Fiji Museum's own archival and conservation programs. For example, oral history interviews were conducted in tandem with Fiji Museum archaeological and built heritage conservation projects (in Levuka, Ovalau.) The Museum video-taped two of the Levuka interviews – with the Tui Levuka, and with long-time local resident Mr Henry Sahai. The oral histories collected in Levuka were designed to provide an “intangible heritage” resource to support an application by Fiji to the World Heritage Committee for Levuka/ the Island of Ovalau to be declared a World Heritage Site.
Corporate and Organisational Sponsors
The project sponsors have demonstrated through their support for this project that they are committed to supporting the preservation of Fiji's historical heritage, to the real long-term benefit of the Fiji community.  The author of the project gratefully recognizes the generous support, encouragement and assistance of the following organizations:
•    UNESCO’s Office for the Pacific based in Samoa;
•    The Australian Government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s former Australia-South Pacific Cultures Fund;
•    Air Pacific;
•    Air Fiji;
•    Telecom Fiji;
•    Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, Australian National University;
•    The Museum of Fiji;
•    National Library of Australia;
•    The Toka Toka Hotel, Nadi, Fiji;
•    The Hot Springs Hotel, Savu Savu, Fiji;
•    The Royal Hotel, Levuka, Fiji.
In addition, many individual people in Fiji, Australia and New Zealand provided essential support and encouragement to the project.


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 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 1176    PACIFIC ISLANDS COMPANY LIMITED and PACIFIC PHOSPHATE COMPANY LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN OFFICE: correspondence files, 1897-1909. Reels 1-20. (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 1191    MISSIONARY SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS OF HILTRUP: Reports from New Ireland and New Britain, New Guinea, 1937-1950. 1 reel.  (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. (Closed)

PMB 1193    RAPANUI (EASTER ISLAND) CUTTINGS FROM THE CHILEAN PRESS, Feb 1972-Jul 2002. Reels 1-12. (Available for reference).

PMB 1194     COCKS, Rev. Norman F.: Struts and Frets His Hour, 1987. The autobiography of the Australian and NZ 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. (1872-1957): Samoan Journal, 1902-1903. 1 reel. (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 1201    SOUTH SEA EVANGELICAL MISSION, formerly Queensland Kanaka Mission: Registers of Baptisms, 1886-1973. Reels 1-2. (Available for reference.)

PMB 1202    MAIER, Ottmar: Stone tool collection data-sheets, Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea, 1958-1963. 1 reel.  (Available for reference.)

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 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.)

PMB Doc 453    PACIFIC UNIONIST. A newsletter of the South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions, Nos. 1-23, 1989-1998. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)

PMB Doc 454    UNITED NATIONS TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL, Reports of Visiting Missions to Trust Territories in the Pacific, mainly New Guinea, 1950-1971. 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:
Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Australia: Silver Halide AU$70.00 per reel. Vesicular $AU65.00 per reel, less 20% for independent Pacific island nations, plus freight, plus GST for sales in Australia
Rest of the world    Silver Halide US$70.00/reel, plus freight. Vesicular US$65.00/reel, plus freight
Contact the Bureau for postage rates to your region/state/country.

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