Pacific Manuscripts Bureau Newsletter
Series 5, No. 16
June 2003
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
Pambu News
Joshua Bell, Kerema
Provincial Archives Burnt
Jacob Hevelawa, Valuable Archives
Kathy Creely, American Libraries
Collecting Trip to PNG, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia
Anna Towlson, Pacific related collections at
the Library of the London School of Economics
Nigel Wace, Yankee
Maritime Activities and the Early History of Australia
Ewan Maidment, Survey
of Pacific Islands Archives of the Westpac Banking Corporation
Selected new PMB microfilm titles
Recent PMB Microfilm
Short Titles
This issue of the Pambu Newsletter has two articles on the burning of
PNG’s Gulf Province archives in Kerema in February. Robin Hide
commented that, “provincial buildings seem to have little
survivability...and the linkage of information/records to legal
proceedings places them twice at risk.” Kerema is the latest in a
series of PNG Provincial administration buildings to be burnt along
with their records some of which would have dated from at least WWII.
It follows the destruction of the Sandaun (West Sepik) administration
records burnt in April last year, Manus & Morobe administration
records in 2001, and similar fire related disasters to Southern
Highlands and Enga Provinces’ vital records in previous years. Joshua
Bell’s has kindly written an account for Pambu of related arson attacks
in the Gulf province district and sub-district buildings and an appeal
by Jacob Hevelawa, the PNG National Archivist, for adequate funding to
protect provincial archives is re-printed from the Post Courier.
Maureen Kattau resigned from the ANU Library on 16 April. She was
Pacific Collections
Librarian in the Library from 1992 till 1997. During that time she
developed the Library’s Pacific Collection in genial and friendly
collaboration with RSPAS staff. Maureen was an active member of the
RSPAS Pacific Islands Group and its successor, the Pacific Islands
Liaison Centre. In that capacity she made a survey of some RSPAS
academics’ research papers held in storage which pointed to the still
unresolved problem of managing Pacific Islands research archives in the
Coombs building. Maureen took a strong interest in PMB activities and
represented the ANU Library on the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau
management committee for several years after George Miller retired from
the ANU Library. Even when she became User Services Coordinator in 1997
Maureen continued to exercise her considerable expertise helping to
develop the Library's Pacific Collection and maintained her connections
with the Bureau. Maureen’s new position at the Macquarie University
Library in Sydney is not related to Pacific studies, which is a loss to
Pacific Islands scholarship in Australia.
Building on Maureen’s survey of records in Coombs storage and on a
subsequent survey carried out last year by the RSPAS Digitisation
Working Group, the Bureau has identified 58 non-current record groups
of Pacific research archives and data sets held either in the Coombs
Building or in the homes of staff and ex-staff. This is by no means an
exhaustive list.
The RSPAS record groups listed by the Bureau range from Richard
Thurnwald’s New Guinea and Solomon Islands linguistic materials and
some of his ethnographic notes dating from 1909 held by Tania Laycock
in Bungendore, not far from Canberra, to Dorothy Shineberg’s database
of indentured labourers in New Caledonia compiled for her recently
published book, The People Trade.
There is now a good chance that the ANU will make arrangements to
manage some of this wealth of documentation, either through an
extension of the parameters of the ANU Library’s Pacific Collection or
through the formation of a Pacific Islands resources centre in RSPAS,
or a combination of both.
The Bureau has located, organised, microfilmed and/or stored some of
these RSPAS-related research archives. In the past the Bureau has
worked on the papers of Richard Gilson, R S Parker, Harry Maude and Bob
Langdon; more recently it has carried out projects on the research
papers of Jo Herlihy, Dorothy Crozier, Alan Ward, Sir Colin Allan and
Peter Sack.
Beyond the Coombs Building, the National Library of Australia has been
collecting personal papers of Australians active in the Pacific
Islands, particularly PNG, and holds papers of two prominent ANU
Pacific scholars, Jim Davidson and Oscar Spate. The Noel Butlin
Archives Centre at the ANU took in the archives of the now defunct
Brisbane-based South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions.
Earlier this year Lever Rexona closed down its library in Sydney,
transferring its Levers Pacific Plantations Ltd records to the Unilever
Archives in London (the Bureau had already microfilmed them), while the
records of its Australian subsidiaries, J Kitchen & Sons, Lever
& Kitchen, and others, were deposited at the Noel Butlin Archives
Centre.
No arrangements have yet been made for preservation of archives held by
the Melbourne Library of BP Developments Australia which was closed
down about 3 years ago. The BP Library held 209 PNG geological survey
reports and related documents, 1900-1942, collected by the Australasian
Petroleum Co and Oil Search Ltd. The Bureau recently asked BP what has
happened to the reports. Unfortunately they have not been found so far.
The Bureau’s Pacific Islands archives preservation microfilm
reformatting projects are proceeding at a regular pace.
• The Fiji Planters’ Journal, 1913–1917, and the
diary of the Fiji beachcomber Edwin Turpin were microfilmed at the Fiji
National Archives last November.
• Young Women’s Christian Association of Fiji
archives, 1963-2000, held by Amelia Rokotuivuna, the YWCA President,
were also microfilmed in Suva.
• Registers of Melanesian Indentured Labourers,
1887-1913, kept by the Deutches Handel und Plantagen Gesselschaft, were
microfilmed in the Nelson Memorial Library in Apia in December.
• Five volumes of pamphlets collected by Sir Arthur
Gordon, together with an album of his press cuttings, held in the
Hallstrom Pacific Collection, were microfilmed at the University of NSW
Library in Sydney in January.
• Registers of Baptisms in Queensland, the Solomon
Islands and New Guinea, 1886-1973, of the South Sea Evangelical
Mission, formerly the Queensland Kanaka Mission, held at Macquarie
University, were also microfilmed in January.
• The New Hebrides Magazine (Sydney) Nos.1-41, Oct
1900-Oct 1911, a journal of the Presbyterian mission in the New
Hebrides, was microfilmed at the Mitchell Library on the same trip to
Sydney
• The Fiji Agricultural Journal (Fiji Dept of
Agriculture; later Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests)
Vol.1, 1928 – Vol.52, 1990, was microfilmed at the CSIRO Black Mountain
Library in Canberra in February.
• The British Solomon Islands Protectorate,
Agricultural Gazette, Vols.1-3, 1933-1936, was microfilmed at the
Queensland Herbarium Library in March.
• The remaining parts of Fred Archer’s papers
on his plantations on Bougainville and Buka were also microfilmed on
the same trip to Brisbane.
• Mr Ross Johnson’s New Guinea Patrol reports and
related papers, 1953-1962, were microfilmed in Sydney in March on the
way back from Brisbane.
• In April the Micronesian Collection, 1852-1900, of
the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society was microfilmed in Honolulu.
• Papers on the history of Catholic Missions in
Micronesia, 1670-1999, collected by Fr Francis Hezel, SJ, were
microfilmed at the Micronesian Seminar in Pohnpei in May.
• Shirley and Beatrice Baker Papers have been
arranged and listed by Mrs Sioana Faupula and will be microfilmed over
the next couple of months.
• The second batch of Jo Herlihy’s papers on
provincial and local government in the Solomon Islands, 1962-1982, have
been arranged and microfilmed.
• Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd correspondence to and
from its agents in Nauru and Ocean Island, 1900-1919, has now been
microfilmed.
• Jack Golson’s papers on cultural policy in PNG have
been transferred from the South Australian Museum to the Bureau for
microfilming.
Following a PMB management committee meeting in Apia in December 2002,
a meeting was held with the Mitchell Library which resolved the
Bureau’s current funding arrangements. A further PMB management
committee meeting will be held in Wellington later this month in
conjunction with the conference of the Pacific Regional Branch of the
International Council on Archives.
Ewan Maidment
PMB Executive Officer
---------------------------------------------------
KEREMA PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES
BURNT
On February 23, 2003 a fire started by arsonists gutted the Gulf
Province’s administrative head quarters in Kerema. Along with the
building, the government lost records related to the treasury,
education, human resources, internal audits, pay office, agriculture
and fisheries departments. The fire also destroyed the nearby
provincial electoral commission office and all of its documents.
Unfortunately, this event was only the latest arson in a recent
succession of such incidents involving Gulf administrative offices and
their records. Following the results of the 2002 elections, in which
the incumbent Pangu candidate Chris Haiveta retained his regional seat,
disgruntled villagers burned down the Ihu and Malalaua sub-district
offices, destroying these stations’ records. With the increasing
dissatisfaction caused by the Province’s lack of basic services and
development, these buildings and their records will only come under
greater threat by a populace who feel increasingly disenfranchised.
During the burning of the Ihu and Malalaua offices in 2002 I was
conducting anthropological fieldwork in the Purari Delta, an area that
falls under the administration of the Baimuru sub-district office,
which is located west of the Ihu station. The Gulf Province has six
district offices, which are divided between the Province’s two
sections: Kerema (East) and Kikori (West). Within the Kerema district
the offices include the main office in Kerema, the provincial capital,
and the two sub-district offices of Malalaua and Kantiba. The Kikori
district’s headquarters are at Kikori, with its two sub-district
stations in Baimuru and Ihu. Following independence in 1975, district
and sub-district offices in the country’s provinces often became the
primary and/or only repositories of records relating to the station and
its officers’ activities. The materials stored therein are important
archives of the last 28 years of provincial administration and
bureaucracy.
After the burning of the Ihu District office, I went to the Baimuru
sub-district office to examine their records as part of my research on
history in the Purari. Crammed into three filing cabinets and spilling
out of several cupboards, the Baimuru records cover the late 1960s to
the present. Topics of interest in this archive include land leases,
details of development schemes and projects, records relating to
health, fisheries, forestry, foreign researchers, as well as oil and
mineral exploration. Land disputes are registered in a log, which is
kept in the station. Copies of these cases’ official reports are
supposedly put on file before they are sent to the Kerema office.
During the time of my research, these sensitive documents, I was told,
were misplaced or missing whenever I made an attempt to see them. Over
time, the records documenting the station’s recent activities have
become less and less detailed. Unfortunately, the documents are slowly
deteriorating due to region’s high humidity and lack of proper storage
facilities.
Despite these problems, the Baimuru material was able to fill in some
gaps in my research regarding the local production and sale of
artefacts, as well as the nature and extent of logging ventures in the
late 1970s and early 1980s. The station’s records also gave me a new
perspective on events and projects that I heard about during the course
of my research. While I was not able to examine the material in
the Kikori district office, one can easily imagine this office’s
records contain equally interesting material – particularly in light of
the pipeline construction from Lake Kutubu, and recent large scale
logging operations being carried out by Turama Forestry Industries and
its parent company, Rimbunan Hijau.
The Gulf has long been one of Papua New Guinea’s least developed
provinces. The documents lost and those that remain in the province’s
district and sub-district offices are important not only for
transparent governance, but also as a record of past achievements and
failures. They form an archive of the province’s struggle to
develop in the early and later phases of national independence and, as
such, can help provide the province’s current leaders with examples of
what does and does not work. For anthropologists, historians,
development workers and political scientists, these records help
inform, enrich and direct our accounts of and actions in the
province. This latest string of arsons not only signals an
alarming new trend in the country, but also threatens to plunge this
stumbling province even further behind as it seriously impoverishes the
province’s archive.
Joshua Bell
Cambridge University
* *
*
From Viewpoint, Post-Courier, 28 Feb 2003
YOUR story on the Gulf Department disaster and the fate of its records
prompts me to respond in general on the disastrous events in this
country affecting our nation's documentary heritage.
I have in the past expressed disappointment on the attitude towards the
destruction of public records and archives of this nation by criminal
elements. This country must be put into perspective to appreciate the
fact that a fundamental tool of administration by any government is its
records.
Records are essential for the effective and productive functioning of
both private and public organisations. Records document the decision
and activities of governments and private institutions and serve as a
benchmark by which future activities and decisions are measured. They
document fundamental rights and obligations, and differentiate rule of
law from the actions of arbitrary states. Without the records, the
government/country will not have the evidence needed to hold officials
accountable or to insist on the prosecution of corruption and fraud.
Moreover, people suffer when inadequate information systems affect
program delivery. Indeed, public health, education, pension, land and
judicial rights all depend upon well-kept and well-managed records.
The National Archives is a national function, although its success in
saving the documentary heritage of Papua New Guinea requires a
development budget support.
Jacob Hevelawa
PNG National Archivist
* *
*
American Libraries Collecting Trip to
PNG, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia,
July 2002
This article gives a brief summary of a collecting trip in July 2002,
to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia on behalf of the
libraries of the University of Hawaii (UH) and the University of
California, San Diego (UCSD). The primary purpose of the trip was to
obtain previously-identified materials which the libraries had been
unable to acquire through normal acquisitions processes. The majority
of these items were government publications, but missing issues of
newspapers and other serial publications, commercially-published
mono-graphs, and music cds were also sought. In the course of the trip
many previously unknown items were also identified and acquired.
As with a similar trip taken in 1999, extensive preparations were made
before leaving the U.S. Lists of publications needed were
generated for both universities and missing issues of serial titles
were noted. To avoid purchasing duplicates, lists of recently
purchased monographs were compiled. University of Hawaii librarian,
Lynette Furuhashi, and I worked closely on this project, consulting in
Honolulu before and after the trip.
Funding for the trip came from several sources. Travel funds were
provided by the UH’s Center for Pacific Islands Studies (CPIS), out of
a grant from National Resource Centers program of the U.S. Department
of Education. CPIS is the only National Resource Center in the U.S.
which focuses on the islands of the Pacific. Salary and other personnel
costs were provided by UCSD.
One fact of collecting in the Pacific is that most materials are
published by the government. Although there may be an official
government publications office or printery, there are not central
repositories of stocks for purchase. The reality is that collecting
government publications necessitates visiting (and usually re-visiting)
individual departments. Some departments are very well-staffed, with
information officers, librarians, and extensive stocks of publications
on hand, which makes the job of the collecting librarian much easier.
Many departments, unfortunately, lack adequate staffing and/or
facilities, with the result being that publications may be scattered or
non-existent. In these cases, it was not always possible to even
ascertain what documents a department had published in recent years,
let alone obtain a copy or two.
Of the three places visited, only New Caledonia has a well-developed
commercial publishing scene and correspondingly well-developed
bookshops. I was pleased to discover a new bookstore in Noumea, Caledo
Livres, which is specializing in publications about the Pacific. It has
a very complete selection of both new and old books and journals about
New Caledonia in particular.
The one constant that I found in the course of this trip was the
genuine helpfulness of the people encountered. Without their
assistance, this trip would have been a failure.
For more information about this trip, including the actual titles of
publications purchased, please feel free to contact the author.
In Papua New Guinea the following places were contacted:
• Dept. of Environment and Conservation;
• Dept. of Finance and Treasury;
• Dept. of Foreign Affairs;
• Government Printing Office;
• Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies;
• Law Reform Commission;
• National Archives;
• National Library;
• National Parliament Library;
• Dept. of National Planning;
• National Research Institute;
• National Statistical Office;
• Dept. of Trade and Industry.
• University of Papua New Guinea
-Library;
-Bookstore;
-Journalism Programme;
-Law Publications Unit;
-UPNG Press;
-School of Humanities & Social Sciences;
• Catholic Bookshop;
• Christian Books;
• Gordon and Gotch;
• Chin H. Meen (music);
• Theodist;
• Morauta and Associates (publishers of Paradise
Magazine);
• The National (newspaper);
• Word Publishing (The Independent and Wantok
newspapers).
Other: Copies of election training materials, recent election
laws, and other publications were donated for the University of
Hawaii’s collection by members of the Australian Electoral Commission.
They had been in the country for a number of months, training Papua New
Guinea elections officials and observing the national elections (which
were taking place as I was there).
Summary of publications obtained in Papua New Guinea:
For University of Hawaii: 103 monographs (including 80 reports from
Census of 2000); 516 serial issues (representing 8 different titles); 3
music cds.
For University of California, San Diego: 114 monographs (including 80
census reports); 51 serial issues (representing 10 different titles); 5
music cds.
In Vanuatu, the following were contacted:
• Broadcasting and Television Corporation;
• Dept. of Finance;
• Dept. of Health;
• Dept. of Strategic Management;
• National Council of Women;
• National Library;
• Parliament Library;
• State Law Office;
• Statistics Office;
• Reserve Bank;
• Vanuatu Cultural Centre;
• Telecom;
• Tourism Office.
• Snoopys (bookstore);
• Stop Press;
• PacificAds (publisher of Island Spirit Magazine);
• Elections Observer Group (Shirley Randell);
• Ridgeway and Blake (law materials);
• Trading Post newspaper (also publishes Pacific
Weekly);
• University of the South Pacific (Emalus).
Summary of publications obtained in Vanuatu:
For University of Hawaii: 15 monographs; 143 serial issues
(representing 10 different titles); 3 music cds.
For University of California, San Diego: 10 monographs; 92 serial
issues (representing 9 different titles); 3 music cds.
In New Caledonia, the following organizations were contacted:
• Agence de Développement de la Culture Kanak;
• Centre Culturel Tjibaou;
• Archives de la Nouvelle-Calédonie;
• Imprimerie Administrative (for publications of
Congres Territoriale);
• Institute de la Statistique et des Etudes
Economiques;
• Institut de Recherche pour le Développement;
• Musée de la Ville de Nouméa;
• Musée de Nouvelle-Calédonie;
• Offices of the Northern, Southern, and Loyalty
Islands Provinces;
• Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie;
• Caledo Livres (bookstore);
• Data Film (microfilmers of Les Nouvelles
(newspaper) and Journal officiel);
• Librairie Montaigne (bookstore);
• Société des Etudes
Melanésiennes;
• Societe d’Etudes Historiques de la
Nouvelle-Calédonie;
• Secretariat of the Pacific Community;
• Pentecost (bookstore);
• Zodiaque (bookstore).
Summary of publications obtained in New Caledonia:
For University of Hawaii: 47 monographs; 50 serial issues (representing
26 different titles); 4 cds (non-music).
For University of California, San Diego: 109 monographs; 57 serial
issues (representing 14 different titles); 5 cds (nonmusic); 2 music
cds.
Kathryn Creely, Librarian
Melanesian Studies Resource Center
University of California, San Diego
Kathy@library.ucsd.edu
* * *
PACIFIC RELATED COLLECTIONS AT THE LIBRARY
OF THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
Although the LSE Library’s archive holding mainly focus on British
social and political history, we also hold some significant material
relating to the Pacific region:
Papers of Bronislaw Malinowksi
Malinowski was a student at LSE from 1910-16. He first joined the
School staff in 1913-14, returned in 1921 as an occasional lecturer and
was appointed to the first Chair in Social Anthropology at the School
in 1927.
Malinowski’s papers include material relating to his expeditions to the
Trobriand Islands in 1915-16 and 1917-18, notably field notebooks,
correspondence and photographs, as well as working papers for his
publications on the Trobriands, notably Coral gardens and their
magic (G Allen and Unwin, London, 1935), The sexual life of savages in
North-West Melanesia (Routledge and Sons, London, 1929)
Most of the collection has now been catalogued and is available for
consultation, although the papers have not yet been sorted into their
final arrangement.
Papers of Sir Raymond Firth.
Firth studied at Auckland University before completing a PhD at LSE
(1924-27) under Malinowski. He conducted fieldwork on the island of
Tikopia in the Solomon Islands from 1928-29 and 1952-1953. He was
appointed to the School staff in 1932 and remained at the LSE until his
retirement in 1968.
Firth’s papers include material relating to his expeditions to Tikopia,
including field notebooks, photographs, correspondence and working
papers for his published works.
Work on cataloguing the Firth papers began last year and is scheduled
for completion in 2004. Certain files may be viewed with the prior
permission of the Archivist
Papers of Charles Seligman.
Seligman first taught at the London School of Economics in 1910, and
was appointed to the Chair of Ethnology of the University of London in
1913.
Seligman’s papers include field notes, journals and research material
relating to his expeditions to the Torres Straits and Borneo in 1898
and Papua New Guinea in 1904
The Seligman papers have been listed and are open to researchers. An
on-line catalogue is available at
http://library-2.lse.ac.uk/archives/handlists/Seligman/Seligman.html
Anna Towlson
Assistant Archivist
Contact details:
Archives and Rare Books
LSE Library
10 Portugal Street
London WC2A 2HD
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 7223
E-mail: Document@lse.ac.uk
* * *
YANKEE MARITIME
ACTIVITIES AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA.
Nigel Wace and Bessie Lovett, Yankee Maritime Activities and the Early
History of Australia, RSPAS Aids to Research Series No.A/2, Canberra,
ANU, 1973.
The establishment of a convict settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788 took
place only twelve years after the Declaration of Independence by the
British colonies in North America, and only five years after the Treaty
of Versailles at the formal end of the rebellion. The Yankees needed to
generate capital for their trade with Europe, and especially with
China. Sealing and whaling in all of the world's oceans soon provided
an economic staple for the young United States of America. Exploitation
of these maritime resources, and the China trade brought many American
vessels to Australian coasts.
This book describes American maritime activities in the Southern Ocean
before the gold rushes. It describes the institutions housing the
logbooks and other maritime records in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and
Connecticut. A shipping list of 602 American vessels which are known to
have visited Australian coasts up to 1850 is indexed by the dates and
places visited in the Australian colonies, with references to
contemporary accounts in Australian newspapers, and shipping lists for
colonial ports. Location in America of the manuscript records of these
visits includes the index numbers of microfilm reels made by John
Cumpston for the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau in the 1970s. These
microfilms can now be seen in Australian and New Zealand and Hawaiian
libraries.
This 131 page paperback was typed in 1973. The shipping list of
American vessels is not yet on a computer database. The book may
nevetheless be useful to anyone interested in the first contacts
between Aboriginal people and coastal explorers and exploiters in
southern Australia.
Copies are available for the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau: AU$25.00, plus
postage.
Nigel Wace
Division of Archaeology and Natural History, RSPAS
Australian National University
* * *
SURVEY OF PACIFIC
ISLANDS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION
In 2002 Michael Waterhouse, a retired Westpac executive who is writing
a history of early gold mining in PNG, suggested that the Bureau survey
the Pacific archives of the Westpac Banking Corporation. The aim of the
survey was to report to Pacific researchers, through the Pambu
Newsletter, on the extent and format of Westpac’s Pacific Islands
related archives.
The archives are managed by Westpac Historical Services, a division of
the Bank. The repository and reading room are located in a stylish
1950s warehouse on Parramatta Road in Homebush, a once industrial
suburb of Sydney now being re-developed for high-rise housing to take
advantage of Sydney’s current land boom. The reading room, open Monday
to Friday, 9.00am-4.00pm, replete with comfortable Edwardian furniture
and banking memorabilia, is reminiscent of an earlier age of commerce.
Westpac Historical Services is well-staffed with very experienced
archivists and research staff whose knowledge of their archives,
amounting to more than 5 kilometers of records, and their arrangement
is essential to researchers. Researchers are required to apply for
access to the archives in writing in advance of their visit. Access to
material in the Archives is granted solely at the discretion of the
bank in order to conform to privacy and banking legislation and to
maintain good customer relations.
Established as the Bank of NSW in 1817, Westpac is Australia’s oldest
company. It first developed an interest in the Pacific Islands in the
1870s and 1880s. For example, the Bank’s archives include a series of
private letters from Sir Arthur Gordon to the Chief General Manager,
1865-1884 (GM/203/70) and there is a report of the official liquidators
at Noumea of the Bank of New Caledonia, 1878 (SYD/401/5). However the
Bank of NSW did not pursue its early interests in the Pacific Islands,
deferring to the Bank of New Zealand which established operations in
Fiji in the 1880s. It was not until 1901 that the Bank of NSW opened
its first Branch in Fiji. A chronology of the development of the Bank’s
operations in Fiji and PNG can be gleaned from the resource files of
Westpac Historical Services:
Fiji
Aug 1901. Suva Branch opened.
Jun 1909. Bank of NSW Branch opened in Levuka (closed May 1944).
1910. Branch opened in Lautoka.
1929. Agency in Ba opened, converted to a Branch in 1951.
1932. Tavua and Vatukoula agencies were opened following the discovery
of gold – mining industry developed by the Emperor, Loloma and Dolphin
Groups.
1948. Agency opened at Nadi Airport following development of the
international airport after WWII.
Feb 1951. Agency opened in Nadi town, converted to a Branch, Mar 1954.
Agencies also opened in Raki Raki & Sigatoka in early 1950s.
Papua and New Guina
May 1910. Bank of NSW opened its first PNG Branch in Douglas Street,
Port Moresby. Re-established after the War in Nov 1946.
Jun 1926. Branch opened in Rabaul. The doors were shut on 21 Jan 1942.
Bill Clark, the Manager, and R W Skillen, dug up the records and
evacuated with £2,600 in cash in a small coastal ship. After
calling at Samarai they arrived at Townsville on 30 January. Other
staff escaped by boat and overland. Two staff were listed as missing.
Re-opened in new building in Nov 1946.
1929. Salamaua Branch opened. The Branch did not re-open after the War.
1933. Wau Branch opened. In 1942 all Wau Branch staff enlisted in the
NG Volunteer Rifles. Branch Manager Bob Byrne evacuated with the Bank
records and £1,000 sterling in notes. The Branch re-opened in
1953 in the general office of the Bulolo Dredging Company until new
premises were built.
1933. Samarai Branch opened.
1936. Kavieng Branch opened.
Nov 1941. Lae Branch opened. Closed 2 months later. Staff burnt records
and cash and escaped overland. Branch re-opened in May 1947.
By the 1960s the Bank operated Branches in Port Moresby, Alotau,
Boroko, Goroka, Kavieng, Kimbe, Kokopo, Lae, Madang, Misima, Mt Hagen,
Rabaul, Tabubil, Vanimo, Waigani, and Wewak.
In 1975 the Bank’s PNG operations were transferred to a subsidiary, The
Bank of New South Wales (PNG) Ltd, which became Westpac Bank, PNG, Ltd
in 1982. The Bank’s other Pacific operations were administered by a
Fiji and Island Division. In 1986 the Bank established the Chief
Manager’s Office of its Pacific Islands Division in Suva, reflecting
the growth of its interests in the region which then included banking
operations in Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, together with
joint venture banks in Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu and Western Samoa. The
latter were administered directly from the Senior General Management
Division in Sydney.
Lucy Rantzen, one of the Westpac Historical Services research staff,
kindly provided a list of Westpac’s Pacific region records. Although
the list consists of about 320 entries, some of them extensive series,
Ms Rantzen noted that it is not exhaustive. She said that at this stage
Westpac Historical Services does not intend to make a complete listing
of its Pacific records, owing to the current low demand from
researchers of that region. Nevertheless the list does give a good idea
of their holdings. Copies can be obtained from Westpac Historical
Services.
Some excerpts from the list will give an indication of the strength of
the archives:
• Letters from the Suva Manager to the Chief General
Manager, 1901-1902, document the beginning of the Bank’s business in
Fiji (GM/214/1);
• Chief Inspectors letters re the Bank’s Fiji
customers, business premises and staff in Fiji, 1908-1925 (GM-CI/102/1
& /105);
• Chief Inspector’s letters, including to the Suva
Manager, 1936-1953 (GM-CI/116/1-11);
• Secretary’s letters to Fiji, 1901-11, 1915-27,
1934-67 (GM-S/108/4-6, /109/4, /112/1-10).
The Chief Inspector’s correspondence, 1920-1947 (GM-CI-302), consisting
of hundreds of files re internal matters (branches, etc.) and clients,
both individuals and corporations, looks like it would give useful
information on commercial activities, particularly in the 1930s. For
example the CI’s files on Fiji clients include:
• Fiji Legislative Council, 1935-1938 (GM-CI/302/2239)
• Morris Hedstrom Ltd – Suva, 1933-1940
(GM-CI/302/2246)
• Colonial Sugar Refining Co Ltd – Lautoka, 1933-1937
(GM-CI/302/2225)
• Burns Philip (South Sea) Co Ltd, 1933-1937
(GM-CI/302/2221
• Loans to Fiji Government, 1934-1937 (GM-CI/302/2232)
• Govt of Fiji – public account, 1934-1940
(GM-CI/302/2234/1)
Prior to the early 1950s the Bank’s operations in PNG were administered
by the Queensland Inspector who reported to the Chief Inspector. There
is a solid series of Chief Inspector’s letters to the Port Moresby
Manager, 1909-1917 (GM-CI/101/1, 3-4), and to the Queensland Inspector
re Papua and New Guinea, 1913-1953 (GM-CI/110/1-6, 113/1-3, 114/1-20).
The Chief Inspector’s correspondence series (GM-CI-302), referred to
above, also documents New Guinea businesses well. For example:
New Guinea Goldfields Ltd – Wau, 1931-36 (GM-CI/302/2795/1)
Steamships Trading Co Ltd – Port Moresby & Samarai, 1933-37
(GM-CI/302//2796)
WR Carpenter & Co Ltd – Rabaul, 1933-1939 (GM-CI/302//2591)
Bulolo Gold Dredging 1933-1937 (GM-CI/302//2586)
Although not listed by Ms Rantzen, the samples of the Inspector’s and
Branch Manager’s reports to the General Manager (R44s – copies sighted
in the reference file 9/301/1) indicate in-depth commentary on economic
and social conditions. For example, the Suva Branch Manager’s report of
September 1912 includes comments on Suva’s imports, exports, area under
crops, copra shortage, the successful year for banana growers and
buyers, the first 10 tons produced by the Veisari Sisal & Hemp Co,
harbour works reclamation and the installation of a sewerage system.
The Queensland Inspector’s annual and half-yearly reports would also
provide crucial material, to a similar depth of detail, for researchers
interested in pre-WWII PNG, all the more important given the
destruction of other contemporary records in New Guinea.
The list also points to an enormous amount of information on monetary
policy in Fiji during and after the Depression. It should also be noted
that there are extensive photographic records in the Westpac archives
and at least one oral history recording relating to the Bank’s
operations in the Pacific.
I am very grateful to Mrs Kerrianne George, the Manager of Westpac
Historical Services, for allowing the Bureau to carry out this survey,
and to Lucy Rantzen for her professional guidance to the records.
Researchers interested in obtaining further information about the
Westpac archives can contact Westpac Historical Services, 6-8
Parramatta Road, Homebush NSW 2140, Australia; Ph. (612) 9763-5670; Fax
(612) 9764-4950; email kgeorge@westpac.com.au.
Ewan Maidment, PMB Executive Officer
Solomon Islands Newspapers Microfilmed by the
Pacific Manuscripts Bureau
The Kakamora Reporter (Honiara), Nos.1-46, Jun 1970- Jul 1975. PMB Doc
414/1 reel.
The Solomons News Drum (Honiara), trial ed. and Nos.1-66, 68-171,
173-360, 362, Oct 1974, Feb 1975-Apr 1982. PMB Doc 415/Reels 1-6.
Melanesian Nius/The Kiokio Nius (Honiara), Nos.1-10, Jan-Mar 1977. PMB
Doc 416/1 reel.
British Solomon Islands Protectorate News Sheet (BSIP Administration),
1955-1974. PMB Doc 422/Reels 1-5.
Na Turupatu na Lotu Katolika (Catholic Mission, Solomon Islands. Mainly
in the Gari language of Guadalcanal.) Nos.1, 3-143, 145-186, 188-198,
1911-1958, and Nos.1, 3-5, 1970-1971. PMB Doc 423/Reels 1-3.
Solomons Toktok (Honiara, George Aitkin, editor), 1977-1992 (gaps). PMB
Doc 424/Reels 1-6.
Solomon Star (Honiara), 1982-1987. PMB Doc 429/Reels 1-4.
Solomon Islands Political Party Manifestos, Policy Statements and
Programmes of Action, 1980-1993, collected by Dr Ian Frazer. PMB Doc
430/1 reel.
Pacific Islands Scientific Serials recently microfilmed by the PMB
PAPUA NEW GUINEA JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES, and
predecessor titles, Vols.1-35, 1935-1990. PMB Doc 451/Reels 1-4.
TERRITORY OF NEW GUINEA, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, LEAFLET, Nos. 1-70
(gaps), 1924-1934. PMB Doc 452/1 reel.
FIJI PLANTERS JOURNAL (Planters’ Association of Fiji), 1913 – 1917. PMB
Doc 455/Reels 1-2.
FIJI AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL (Fiji Dept of Agriculture; later Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests) Vol.1, 1928 – Vol.52, 1990. PMB Doc
457/Reels 1-5.
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE (British Solomon Islands Protectorate), Vols.1-3,
1933-1936. PMB Doc 460/1 reel.
Some
Other Recent
PMB Microfilm Series Titles
PMB Doc 459
THE NEW HEBRIDES MAGAZINE. A journal of the missionary and general
information regarding the islands of the New Hebrides (Sydney),
Nos.1-41, Oct 1900-Oct 1911. 1 reel, 35mm microfilm. Available for
reference.
Microfilmed from originals held at the Mitchell Library, Macquarie
Street, Sydney, Australia.
Early issues of the New Hebrides Magazine were edited by Dr William
Gunn of Aneityium and promoted by Rev. Dr Robertson of Erromanga under
the auspices of the Foreign Missions Committee of the Presbyterian
Church in Victoria. Dr Gunn also printed some of the early issues. The
Synod then decided that the journal should be printed in Australia. A
few issues were printed in Sydney, but after 1905 it was printed by
Arbuckle, Waddell & Fawckner in Melbourne. In 1905 Rev. T
Wattlegatt of Malekula became Editor for about three years, but he
moved to Victoria in 1906 and as he felt out of touch with the New
Hebrides resigned as Editor. Rev. F H L Paton, Foreign Missions
Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria then took over as
Editor. The New Hebrides Magazine was succeeded by Our Missionaries at
work : a journal of missionary information (Vol.1, no.1-Vol.6, no.4,
Dec 1911-Oct 1917) issued by the Presbyterian Church in Victoria.
PMB 1204
John Cranston McINERNEY (1916-1953), New Guinea Journal Transcript, Sep
1943-Apr 1947. 1 reel, 35mm microfilm. Available for reference.
Original held by Ms Sally McInerney.
John Cranston McInerney was born in 1916, grew up on the land near
Koorawatha and Cowra, NSW, and went to school at St Patrick’s College,
Goulburn. He graduated from Sydney University Medical School in 1941,
enlisted in the Australian army in September that year, serving as a
Medical Officer ranked as Lieutenant in the 2nd 14th Light Field
Ambulance in New Guinea and then as Captain in the 2nd 2nd Commando
Squadron. He went back to New Guinea after the war, learnt to fly and
became District Medical Officer at Wewak. He died after his Auster
aircraft crashed into the sea at Vanimo, March 1953.
This journal was mostly written in New Guinea, September 1943 till July
1944, much of it in the Chimbu, Eastern Highlands, Wahgi Valley and
Ramu River areas. As well as accounts of Dr McInerney’s military
experiences, the journal includes Kuman vocabularies, notes on legends,
customs and practices of the Dengla-Maguagu people and an account of
stone axe making by Dom people in the Wahgi Valley.
The original is a black-covered A5 notebook with a small area of water
damage at the top of each page. This damage must have happened before
1953, as John McInerney has in places re-written over the washed-out
area. His handwriting, in both ink and pencil, is very small and
difficult to decipher. The microfilm of the original Ms. is in the
Mitchell Library, Sydney. The Mitchell Library and National Library of
Australia also have a copy of this typescript which is transcribed from
much enlarged photocopies of the original Ms. The black notebook is
presently in the care of Gavan McInerney and Sally McInerney.
PMB 1202
Ottmar MAIER (1929-….), Stone tool collection data sheets, Chimbu
Province, Papua New Guinea, 1958-1963. 1 reel, 35mm microfilm.
Available for reference. Original held by Mr Ottmar Maier, Queensland,
Australia.
In the period 1958-63 Mr Maier was a lay missionary builder with the
Divine Word Mission. When he took an interest in stone artifacts,
Father Heinrich Aufenanger SVD, who later became Professor of Cultural
Anthropology at Nanzan University in Japan, instructed him in how to
document artifacts. Whilst in Chimbu Mr Maier collected 234 stone tools
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. Some of the data sheets have been
published by Carl A. Schmitz in 'Steinerne schalenmörser, pistille
und vogelfiguren aus Zentral Neuguinea' in Baessler-Archiv, Neue Folge,
Band XIV, in 1966, pages 1-60.
Data sheets Nos. 1-234 documenting transfers of Chimbu, Papua New
Guinea, stone tools, including date, location, name of donor,
description of artefact and its uses, in German (mainly), pidgin and
English, including, on most data sheets, photograph of artefact and
donor. 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).
PMB 1201
SOUTH SEA EVANGELICAL MISSION, formerly Queensland Kanaka Mission.
Registers of Baptisms, 1886-1973. Reels 1-2, 35mm microfilm. Available
for reference. Originals at the Centre for the Study of Australian
Christianity, Menzies College, Macquarie University, Sydney (PO Box
1505 Macquarie Centre, NSW, 2113, Australia).
See also SSEM correspondence, 1890-1946, at PMB 1150; Not in Vain,
1887-1995, at PMB Doc 439; Despatches from the SSEM, Mar 1932-Jul 1956,
at PMB Doc 440; and Solomon Soldiers’ News, 1945-1966, at PMB Doc 441.
Reel 1
• Queensland Kanaka Mission. List of Baptisms, Nos.
1-1369, 1886-1900
• Notes on baptised people, cross referenced to QKM
List of Baptisms, above, 1902(?).
• Solomons Baptisms Register, Nos. 1-1203, 1902-1905.
• Solomons Register of Baptisms, Nos. 1204-2811,
1915-1922.
• Solomons Baptisms Register, Nos. 2812-5821,
1922-1932.
• Solomons Baptisms Register, Nos. 5822-9310,
1932-Mar 1946.
• Solomons Baptisms Register, Nos. 9311-14796,
1946-1962.
• New Guinea Baptism Record Book, Nos. 1-3180,
1958-1973.
Reel 2
• Miss L. Drewitt. List of Villagers visiting Mission
(One Pesi?), 1927-1951.
• Furlough Lists (2 volumes). Lists time spent by
staff in the Islands, 1907-1965.
• Grammar Notes and English-Makira Vocabulary WB
[Wanoni Bay], arranged by Miss Waterson. Ts., carbon; c.80pp., (first
page missing), 1931.
PMB 1190
Joan M HERLIHY, Papers on Provincial and Local Government in the
Solomon Islands, 1962-1982. Reels 1-13, 35mm microfilm. Available for
reference. Originals held by Dr J M Herlihy, Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia.
Joan Herlihy was an advisor to the Solomon Islands Special Committee on
Provincial Government which met in November 1978, shortly after
independence. The Committee produced a report in January 1979,
Decentralisation and Provincial Government: Solomon Islands, which was
the basis for provincial and local government arrangements in the
Solomon Islands for the next 20 years. Frustration with centralisation
of political power in Honiara was a concern of the Committee and
remains a concern in the Solomon Islands, as indicated by the civil
conflict in 2000-2001. Dr Herlihy’s PhD thesis, Always we are last: a
study of planning, development and disadvantage in Melanesia, was
submitted at the ANU in 1981.
CONTENTS Documents collected by Dr. Herlihy as
Advisor to the Special Committee on Provincial Government (SCPG) in
1978-1979, as follows:
• West Council Papers, 1975-1979
• Background Papers, Nos. 1-132, 1978
• Unnumbered background and issues papers, summary of
submissions, agenda papers, daily summary, circulars, notes, minutes,
recommendations, draft and final report, draft provincial government
legislation.
Further papers on most aspects of Solomon Islanders’ social, economic
and political life collected by Dr Herlihy arranged by subject, as
follows:
• Plans & Planning – National Plans, 1945-80
• Departmental Plans – Solomons, 1974-1976
• Planning – Solomons, 1973-1978
• Cooperatives, 1965-1971
• Economy of Solomons, (1) & (2), 1967-1980
• Rural Economy and Devopment, 1975-1982
• Kamaosi Rural Training Centre, 1970-1973
• Agricultural and Industrial Loans Board and other
Credit and Loans, 1969-1980
• Tourism, 1968-1980
• Transport and Communications, 1966-1978
• Constitution, 1968-1978
• Decentralisation & Local Govt, 1967-1978
• Local Government Conferences, 1974-1977
• Area Committees, 1970-1977
• Councils, 1966-1977
• Isabel Council (1) & (2), 1964-1976
• Council Planning – Isabel, 1972-1978
• Makira Council, 1968-1977
• Council Planning – Makira, 1973-76
• Employment and Wages, 1914-32, 1962-76
• Trade Unions, 1973-1975
• Land in Solomons (1) & (2), 1964-1978
• Culture and Traditional Systems, 1940-1977
• Press Cuttings, 1977-1979
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 1166 SOUTH
PACIFIC AND OCEANIC COUNCIL OF TRADE
UNIONS: archives, 1989-1999. Reels 1-5. (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 1-7. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1190
HERLIHY, Joan M.: Papers relating to
Provincial and Local Government in the Solomon Islands, 1970s-1980s.
Reels 1-13. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1204
McINERNEY, John Cranston (1916-1953) New
Guinea Journal, 1944-1947. Transcript. 1 reel. (Available for
reference.)
PMB 1205
PACIFIC ISLANDS CO LTD: legal papers,
agreements, reports, notes and press cuttings on islands, 1840-1914.
Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1206
PACIFIC PHOSPHATE CO LTD, Sydney and
Melbourne Offices: Ocean Island and Nauru correspondence, 1900-1921.
Reels 1-22. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1209
TURPIN, Edwin James (1842-1917): Fiji Diary
and Narratives, 1870-1892. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1210
DEUTSCHE HANDELS-UND PLANTAGEN GESELLSCHAFT:
registers of Melanesian Indentured Labourers in Samoa, 1887-1914.
1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1211
YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF FIJI:
archives, 1963-2000. Reels 1-2. (Closed till January 2005 then
available for reference.)
PMB 1213
GORDON, Sir Arthur: Fijian Pamphlets
collected by Sir Arthur Gordon, Vols.1-3, 1877-1883. Reel 1-2.
(Available for reference.)
PMB 1214
GORDON, Sir Arthur (1829-1912): High
Commission Fiji Pamphlets. Reel 1. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1215
GORDON, Sir Arthur (1829-1912): Newspaper
cuttings concerning Sir Arthur Gordon, 1881-1886. 1 reel. (Available
for reference.)
PMB 1216
GROVES, W. C., "Report on Education in the
British Solomon Islands", roneo, c.200pp. 1 reel. (Available for
reference.)
PMB 1217
WESTERN DISTRICT (PNG) FLY RIVER AREA
AUTHORITY, Western District Legends, 1974-1975. 1 reel. (Available for
reference.)
PMB 1218
JOHNSON, Ross: New Guinea Patrol reports and
related papers, 1953-1962. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1220
HAWAIIAN MISSION CHILDREN’S SOCIETY LIBRARY,
Micronesian Collection, 1852-1923. Reels 1-15. (Available for
reference.)
PMB 1222
FRANCIS X HEZEL SJ: Papers on the Catholic
Diocese of the Caroline Islands, 1670-1999. Reels 1-7. (Available for
reference.)
PMB 1224
WAHGI LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL: minutes of
meetings and related papers, 1962-1976. 1 reel. (Available for
reference.)
PMB Doc 455
FIJI PLANTERS JOURNAL (Planters’
Association of Fiji), 1913 – 1917. Reels 1-2. (Available for reference.)
PMB Doc 457
FIJI AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL (Fiji Dept of
Agriculture; later Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests)
Vol.1, 1928 – Vol.52, 1990; including the Fiji Farmer, Vol.1, No.1 –
Vol.3, No.1, Mar 1965 – Mar 1967. Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.)
PMB Doc 458
VANUATU RADIO NEWS, LOCAL NEWS BULLETIN
(Radio New Hebrides/Radio Vanuatu), 28 Sep 1978 – 26 Nov 1980 (gaps).
Reels 1-2. (Available for reference.)
PMB Doc 459
THE NEW HEBRIDES MAGAZINE. A journal of
the missionary and general information regarding the islands of the New
Hebrides (Sydney), Nos.1-41, Oct 1900-Oct 1911. (Available for
reference.)
PMB Doc 460
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE (British Solomon
Islands Protectorate), Vols.1-3, 1933-1936. (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
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