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Pambu

Newsletter of the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau
Series 5, No. 18.               November 2004

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/


Pambu News                                      
Christine Gordon, Free Wesleyan Church Tonga Archives Project Report          
Paul Turnbull, South Seas: Cook’s journal on-line                
Richard Dorman, Dorothy Shineberg – an Obituary                  
Rev. Michael Blain, Biographical Directory of Anglican Clergy in the Pacific Islands 
Report on PMB Fieldwork in Auckland and Niue, June-July 2004          
Some Recent PMB Microfilm Titles                 

 
PAMBU NEWS

After Cyclone Heta hit Niue in January the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau consulted with Jocelyn Cumings, one of two conservators from the National Library of NZ, who visited various archives in Niue to help preserve documents damaged by the cyclone. The Bureau sent a spare RSPAS Dukane microfilm reader to the Niue Justice Department and organised digital conversion of microfilm of Niue births registers. In July the Bureau visited Niue to microfilm damaged lands records held in the Justice Department. A report of the fieldwork is included in this issue of Pambu.
PMB microfilming in Rarotonga this year went smoothly producing 17 rolls of Cook Islands Administration Resident Commissioner’s Office correspondence with Resident Agents in the Outer Islands, 1893-1974. (PMB 1248: Restricted access.) This title consists of general correspondence with Atiu 1893-1966, Mauke 1909-1968, Mangaia 1899-1967, Penrhyn 1909-1974 and Manihiki 1909-1957.


In Auckland, on the way to Niue and Rarotonga, the Bureau continued work on a survey of the Greenpeace NZ archives, microfilmed its Newsletter and some collections of documents relating to voyages protesting against nuclear tests in the Pacific. The aim of this project is to produce an extensive PMB microfilm title documenting Greenpeace NZ’s Pacific campaigns.
The PMB website has been extensively revised and our on-line database catalogue has been updated. The new version is a great improvement, easier to use and to find things. It has remained simple, straightforward and uncluttered, but visually very bold and clear.
Mrs Gwenyth Fardon lent the Bureau 72 photographs belonging to Sister Lida Tonkin, a nurse with the Methodist Mission who worked in Rabaul between the Wars. These photographs and their detailed captions have been scanned and samples are accessible to researchers on the PMB website.
Photographs taken in Mount Hagen during a parasitology survey in 1934 by A.J. Bearup (a researcher with the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Sydney) have also been linked to the PMB website. Digital copies of these photographs were supplied to the Bureau by Dr John Walker, Director Parasitology Section, Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, in March 2004.
    An exhibition of documents relating to Pacific Islands missions is on display at the Noel Butlin Archives Centre (NBAC) reading room in the Menzies library, ANU. On display are samples of Sister Helen Leishman's corres-pondence from the Solomon Islands, 1930-1948 (microfilmed recently by the Bureau at PMB 1244) and letters and photographs from the Burns Philp archives, held at the NBAC, documenting the provision of services to the New Hebrides Presbyterian Mission stations, 1890-1910.

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FREE WESLEYAN CHURCH TONGA ARCHIVES PROJECT REPORT


Garth Crockford spent two months as an Australian Expert Service (AESOP) volunteer in Tonga early this year working on the Free Wesleyan Church (FWC) archives. In July Christine Gordon visited Tonga to continue Garth’s work. The FWC generously accommodated Christine and her family and the Uniting International Mission agency of the Uniting Church supported her as a volunteer for the short-term consultancy. Christine’s report on their work is reproduced below with her kind permission.

Report to Bill Fischer, National Director Uniting and International Mission,
by Christine Gordon, Archivist, Uniting Church of Australia Archives, October 2004.

On arriving in Tonga Tevita Ofahulu, the Archivist for the Free Wesleyan Church, suggested that I address the following issues:
•    Cataloguing procedures
•    Information access
•    Collection development and maintenance
•    Organise information for client access
•    Digitising process
In Tonga the churches fulfil several roles that, in other places, are usually a function of Government. One such role is the maintenance of birth, death, marriage, and other community/family information much of which is vital in evidencing family ties and land and other asset ownership. The Church is closely connected to a large sector of the general community and is linked with the cultural, social and economic changes that have and are taking place. Details of these changes can be found in the Church’s records.
Individuals, students, teachers, social researchers and legal professionals seek access to documents maintained by the Free Wesleyan Church Archives. These are typically paper-based records and date from the early 1800’s. Many are in a fragile condition due to excessive handling and the tropical environment where temperature and humidity, insects and moulds present major problems in the maintenance of such records. Whilst many of the these records are held in the archives the staff were not always able to locate any one document and it was apparent that a central catalogue of all the listings of the FWC was the project that needed the most urgent attention.
To this end I have created a database from which a catalogue has been established known as FWC Central Catalogue. I have trained the staff in the upkeep of the database and left a set of written instructions for its continuing management and use.
While in Tonga I was fortunate to be able to visit Sia’atoutai Theological College, Tupou and Queen Salote Colleges.
The Theological College enquired about the possibility of setting up their own archives and, although this is a possibility for the students’ records and theses, I have recommended that the older historical books in their keeping be transferred to the FWC archives.  I spoke to them about the possibility of purchasing a microfilm reader and the records of FWC and MOM on their behalf.  I have also arranged a copy of Church Heritage, the Historical Journal of the Uniting Church in Australia, to be sent to the librarian twice annually and I will see if a copy of United Studies can also be sent when published.
Tupou College holds records dating back to 1866 and unfortunately some of them are in such poor condition that they deteriorated in my hands. I have made recommendations to the FWC Standing Committee that a policy of implementing a custodial program for all FWC records be seriously considered before such valuable documents are lost.
To aid in this program I will adapt the retention/disposal schedule created for UCA for use in the FWC church in Tonga.  I will be able to write them a retention schedule for their agencies or departments, their congregations and also the President’s papers. This is possible after having visited all the Departments in Head Office and seen the work that each produces and speaking to the staff at length to ascertain what written records each congregation keep.
Position of FWCT archives as at mid-2004
Recent achievements to May 2004 include:
•    Establishment of archives office and repository facilities with environment control within the modern FWCT administration centre.
•    Transfer of early Church records from storeroom at President’s residence.
•    Establishment of an orderly physical arrangement of the archives within the repository, including appropriate storage (boxes, shelving and cabinets) for the various records formats.
•    Establishment of a control system to locate material in the repository and to generally manage the archives.
•    Acquisition of office equipment (including computer and imaging equipment with the appropriate software) for an up-to-date archives operating system.
•    Provision of reference services to FWCT and others.
•    General training of Archives staff by a qualified archivist with emphasis on passive conservation measures, selection of archives from administrative records, and the arrangement and description of selected records.
•    Commencement of an imaging program to create digital format copies of selected older documents and high reference material.
Work implemented in July 2004:
•    Creation of a Central Catalogue by establishing a database of the archives thus creating finding aids to improve the research use of the existing holding.
•    Extension of the records management program to provide a formal Records Disposal Schedule authorising disposal of non-current records from FWCT offices.
•    A search within FWCT institutions and elsewhere to locate archival material with a view to transfer into archival custody.
•    Contact with Pacific Manuscripts Bureau in regard to the FWCT records that were microfilmed in 1982 to obtain a copy in digital format.
•    Purchase of acid-free tissue and paper to interleave/wrap selected documents and photographs as a conservation measure.
•    Identification and purchase of boxes to be adopted as standard for archival storage purposes.
Further recommendations
It would be wise to plan for more space for the archives. The present arrangement with the archives repository has it as a mix of repository and work stations, and the requirements for each are not compatible. The area is crowded, a bank of cabinets cannot be accessed unless a desk is moved, and all shelf space has been used up.
An archives repository should be a closed room, kept dark and maintained at a constant temperature and relative humidity (20degC 50% RH for paper records and as low as 13degC 40% RH for disks and tapes). The environment should be as stable as the air-conditioning equipment can make it.
To achieve this it would be helpful to:
•    Dedicate the present repository/office space to repository and storage use only. Move tapes and disks, and any electrical equipment not in use, from the studio to the repository. Close off the external windows with solid panelling to exclude daylight and heat. Install shelving to suit selected archive boxes.
•    Create an office for the archives staff in the office next door (currently vacant)
Other suggestions I felt would be helpful in the development of the archives are these.
It would be helpful to have a staff member dedicated solely to working in the archives. This person could focus and maintain the archival records and when other staff have time they can also help – but one person being responsible will ensure continuity of knowledge and ongoing care of the archives.
I also think it would be worthwhile to have a job description for the archives staff.  At the moment it seems they require direction – certainly in terms of archival processes.  Future training can then be provided where there are recognised shortfalls in knowledge.
The Free Wesleyan Church Archives is, in itself, a long-term program. It has as its objectives to collect, manage, preserve and make available the key records of the Church. The digital imaging program within the Archives is a major component in the preservation of the physical records and the dissemination of information from them. The scanning of documents, to create a digital copy, allows the retirement of the original records to secure storage to extend their lifespan. Having the information in digital format permits accurate and relatively inexpensive creation of working copies.
The preservation of information through the Archives digital imaging program will have major implications in the coming years especially in the fields of law (relative to land ownership in particular), education, culture, and communication.

Christine Gordon
Archivist, Uniting Church in Australia Archives, PO Box 2395, North Parramatta NSW 1750, Australia.
<christineg@nat.uca.org.au>

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SOUTH SEAS:
COOK'S JOURNAL ONLINE

The first phase of South Seas was officially launched at the National Library in July:
http://southseas.nla.gov.au
South Seas is an online information resource for the history of European voyaging and cross-cultural encounters in the Pacific between 1760 and 1800. It has been created through a research partnership with the National Library of Australia, who have been generous supporters in many ways.
The first phase of South Seas, which is focused on James Cook’s momentous first voyage of discovery of 1768-1771.
South Seas offers the full text of the holograph manuscript of James Cook’s Endeavour Journal held by the National Library of Australia, together with the full texts of the journals kept by Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson on the voyage. You will also find the text of all three volumes of John Hawkesworth’s Account of the Voyages undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere (1773). Volumes two and three of this work are an account of the Endeavour voyage fashioned by Hawkesworth from Cook's and Banks's journals.
These various fascinating historical documents are presented so that you can easily compare and contrast how the many remarkable occurrences on the voyage were interpreted by Cook, Banks and Parkinson. The are also accompanied by explanatory commentaries, short articles and reflective essays in the South Companion.
In order to help explain the complexities of eighteenth century and navigation, we have provided the complete text of the 1780 edition of William Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine.
South Seas has also been designed to facilitate discovery of historical images and rare maps relating to eighteenth-century voyaging in Australian and Pacific seas held by the National Library of Australia’s collections.
This first phase of South Seas also contains online editions of several important works illustrative of indigenous Pacific cultures before and during the years between 1760 and 1800, as well as a number of literary works revealing how the experiences of voyagers captured the imagination of Europeans during the second-half of the eighteenth century.
There's some further indexing and content to be added by the end of this year, but I am hopeful of being able to start on phase two of the project in early 2005. Phase two will involve the use of audio-visual media to illuminate the historical legacies of eighteenth-century Pacific voyaging and cross-cultural encounters.

Paul Turnbull
(from H-ANZAU, 27 July 2004)

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DR DOROTHY LOIS SHINEBERG

Dr Dorothy Lois Shineberg, an Australian academic and Pacific historian, died in Canberra on 19 August after a long illness, aged 77. Her classic work, They Came for Sandalwood: A Study of the Sandalwood Trade in the South-West Pacific, 1830-1865, was published in 1967 by the Melbourne University Press. The sandalwood trade had been the subject of her Ph.D. thesis at Melbourne, but by the time that her book was published after further research, she was working as a Research Fellow at the Department of Pacific History, the Australian National University, Canberra, which continued to be her academic home.
They Came for Sandalwood is a meticulously researched and fascinating account of a dangerous trade which was of major importance in the development of early European contacts with the New Hebrides, the Loyalty Islands, and New Caledonia. In it Dorothy Shineberg described not just the development of the sandalwood trade but also the relationships between traders and islanders and between traders and the early missionaries. She was at pains to see for herself the islands she wrote about and in 1965 she was entertained by the Wallingtons on Tanna while awaiting transport to Erromango; there she was looked after by William Mete. Her widely acclaimed and authoritative study remains required reading for all who are interested in the history of the South West Pacific in the 19th century.
Her other major work, The People Trade: Pacific Island Labourers and New Caledonia, 1865-1930, published by the University of Hawaii Press in 1999, was the result of very detailed research, not only in New Caledonia (where she had many friends) but also in France. Plenty has been written about the Queensland labour trade and blackbirders, but the parallel recruitment of labour for New Caledonia from the New Hebrides had been little studied. In The People Trade she examined the recruitment processes, the experiences of New Hebrideans in New Caledonia, the numbers that stayed on after their contracts had ended and settled there, and underlying it all the vexed question of whether people were kidnapped or chose to leave home. Although the subject matter has a narrower compass than They Came for Sandalwood, it has a particular relevance since ni-Vanuatu have continued right down to the present day to be attracted by employment opportunities in New Caledonia.
Dorothy Shineberg had a long and productive academic career from her first appointment as a Senior Tutor in History at the age of 20 at the University of Melbourne to her formal retirement in 1988 as a Reader in History at ANU. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1950, she spent two years at Smith College, Massachusetts, teaching history, before returning to Melbourne. In 1971 she edited Captain Andrew Cheyne’s account of his Trading Voyages in the Pacific in the 1840s (published by ANU), she published a number of articles on Melanesian History in the 19th Century, and for many years was on the editorial board of the Journal of Pacific History. Her latter years were mainly devoted to her research work in New Caledonia.

Richard Dorman
(from the British Friends of Vanuatu Newsletter, 27 Oct 2004, with permission.)

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BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF ANGLICAN CLERGY

www.kinderlibrary.ac.nz/resources/bishop/

Kathy Creely, Director of the Melanesian Studies Resource Center, University of California San Diego, commented that this is an interesting site--biographical information on 1500 Anglican clergy (ordained before 1926) who served in New Zealand and/or the Pacific islands. If only it were this easy to find biographical information on anyone of interest in Pacific history!

1,500 Anglican priests who served in New Zealand, Polynesia, and Melanesia are included in this directory. The compiler aims to include all the Anglican clergy from the first visit of Samuel Marsden in 1814. For privacy reasons, clergy ordained after 1926 are not included.
This directory has been compiled by Father Michael Blain, with the assistance of volunteers, librarians and archivists. It is a ‘work in progress’ and will be updated from time to time. Corrections and additions, together with the source of the information, are welcome. Send to mwblain@paradise.net.nz.  Father Michael Blain is the Parish Priest, St Michaels, Kelburn in Wellington, New Zealand.
Content of each entry
Each directory entry after the priest’s name provides details of his birth, death and family background. Previous generations are progressively indented. If he married, available details for the spouse have been provided and previous generations of the spouse’s family similarly indented.
Details under education include schooling, university, theological college training, honorary degrees, and finally ordination. The date of ordination and the see-title of the ordaining bishop (if known) are given. Occasionally the sources name a teacher, tutor or bishop – because the name appeared significant to the source, the name is added here. Similarly where the compiler considers the connections are noteworthy, such personal names have been recorded here (for instance the names of the bishops who consecrated Bishop Selwyn.)
Details under position provide a chronological sequence centering on the years of service in the mission field (or in the diocese) of New Zealand but embracing both earlier work and career shifts out of priestly ministry. The compiler has had to reconstruct career moves from a variety of sources. Where known, full dates are entered for the beginning and the end of an appointment. Indented entries indicate a re-licensing for the same position or for an honorary or subsidiary position, or a dating for notable activity within the time span of the appointment.
Other information outside the above categories is clustered at the close of a person’s entry, together with the titles of any published works, followed by references to obituary notices.

From the Directory’s webpage, with Father Blain’s permission.

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Report on PMB Fieldwork in Niue, July 2004

There has been no PMB fieldwork in Niue since Bob Langdon microfilmed London Missionary Society correspondence, registers and other church records, 1910-1953, in November 1974, just after declaration of self-government in Niue.
On 5-6 January this year Cyclone Heta caused severe damage in the Cook Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Niue and Tonga. In Niue at Alofi South, the main government centre, winds of up to 350km/hour were followed by massive sea surges at high tide which crashed over the cliff-line, flooding areas more than 40 metres above normal sea level.
One woman and her child were killed; many residential, commercial and government buildings in Alofi South were destroyed or damaged, including the hospital. Most of the contents of the Huanaki Museum and Cultural Centre were destroyed. The National Archives and Library building was damaged and much of it contents was water damaged. The offices of the Department of Justice, Lands and Survey were also badly damaged; some of its records were destroyed and most of the remainder was water damaged.
Niue administration staff efforts to rescue damaged documents were supported by two conservators, Jocelyn Cuming and Tharron Bloomfield of the NZ National Preservation Office, who worked in Niue, 9-16 February. The conservators mainly worked with the staff of the National Archives (also known as the Community Affairs Archives) to dry out its water damaged files in the sun and store them.
Ms Cuming passed on the Bureau’s offer of microfilming assistance, if required. In response Togia Sioneholo, the Secretary for Justice, contacted the Bureau in March asking the Bureau to microfilm old land records damaged by saltwater.
Prior to this visit the Bureau was able to assist the Niue Justice Department in several other ways. The Bureau arranged for W & F Pascoe Pty Ltd to scan a Latter Day Saints’ microfilm of a Niue births register which had been lost in the cyclone. In April the Bureau despatched a Dukane microfilm reader, surplus to the requirements of the Department of Anthropology, RSPAS, to the Justice Department. As the AusAID Niue Program had already spent its Niue budget for the financial year, the costs of scanning and freight were borne by the Niue Justice Department. The Bureau also gave the Department advice on cleaning microfilm exposed to saltwater.
I had planned to combine the trip to Niue with fieldwork in Rarotonga but, due to family commitments and PMB work in Canberra, was only able to visit Niue. The Cook Islands fieldwork has been postponed until later in the year. There was, however, time to pursue a second stage survey and some microfilming of Greenpeace NZ archives in Auckland, on the way to Niue.

The fieldwork produced 16 reels of microfilm, as follows:
PMB 1238    GREENPEACE NEW ZEALAND / PEACE MEDIA ORGANISATION, voyages protesting against nuclear testing in the Pacific: press cuttings and scrapbooks, 1973-1976, 1985. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB Doc 464    GREENPEACE NEW ZEALAND NEWSLETTER, 1974-2004. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1239    GOVERNMENT OF NIUE, Justice, Lands and Survey Department, Land Court: Minutes, 1941-2003. Reels 1-4. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1240    GOVERNMENT OF NIUE, Justice, Lands and Survey Department, Registers of Births and Deaths, 1910-1916, and Marriages, 1900-1972. Reels 1-6. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1241    GOVERNMENT OF NIUE, Justice, Lands and Survey Department, Land Court: Wills, 1888-1986. Reels 1-3. (Restricted access.)
PMB 1242    GOVERNMENT OF NIUE, Justice, Lands and Survey Department: Land Titling Project Reports, 1994-1999. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
Niue, 3-18 July
The Polynesian Airlines flight to Niue arrived early on Saturday morning having been delayed by 8 hours due to a mechanical fault. Touring around Niue by bicycle over the weekend, the island appeared to have made a rapid recovery from the cyclone. The roads were in good condition. The upper limbs of many of the bush trees were smashed but many giant coconut trees had survived. People said that after the cyclone the vegetation across whole island was turned brown by the sea spray. However now it is tropical green and there were many large taro gardens flourishing amidst the maketea on the high plateau. The Fale Fono, Ekalesia Niue Centenary Hall and Catholic Mission on the seaward side of the road at Alofi are all undamaged and the businesses and market on the other side of the road in central Alofi are operating normally. A few abandoned cyclone damaged houses are still standing, but most of the damaged residential and government buildings on the seaward side of the main road in Alofi South have been bulldozed leaving wide areas of vacant land where the Hospital and Hotel Niue once stood. A huge pile of rubble, smashed vehicles and ruined roofing is a memorial to the devastation. Another dump of asbestos building materials has been made in a more secluded area south of the airstrip. Most of the forty prefabricated houses, a gift from French Polynesia, have been erected in various spots near Alofi.
Department of Justice, Lands and Surveys.
On the morning of Monday 5 July I met Togia Sioneholo and the other Justice Department staff at their new office, a two-story residential house near the airport. Most of the staff are still occupied cleaning damaged records, sorting them, reconstituting some order and storing them in document boxes supplied by the NZ conservators. A new system of record keeping, based on village name, has been established. Most of the Justice Department records had been exposed to seawater. They had been stored in a lower room in the Justice Department building in Alofi South. The room had protected the records from the wind but it had been flooded by seawater. Mr Sioneholo said that electronic documents as well as hardcopy records were lost. One harddrive exposed to seawater has been sent to NZ for recovery but Mr Sioneholo had not yet received any word on progress. Two further rolls of LDS microfilms of births registers had also been sent to NZ Micrographic Services Ltd for scanning. Mr Sioneholo is working on a long-term project reconstituting authorised Niuean genealogies from original Justice Department records.
As there was no space to set up the microfilm camera in the house we decided to use a shipping container parked outside the house. It was being used to store water damaged records prior to cleaning, most of which had now been processed. We stacked up the remaining cartons of records at the end of the container, leaving space to set up the camera on a nice long table. With one door closed and a long strip of black cloth draped over the other doorway to control external sunlight, the container made a fine darkroom, though the ventilation was poor and it was hot in the afternoon as the day warmed up. The aroma of mouldy records added to the scholarly atmosphere.
Mr Sioneholo suggested that I start microfilming the Land Court minute books which are public documents. They consisted of 12 volumes, 1941-2003, plus 3 volumes of adoptions, 1917-1934, 1970-2001, and one volume Niue High Court, Land Division, appeals, 1992. All the volumes had been wet and all were damaged up to a point. In the worst cases the text had been washed away leaving only a blue tinge to the paper.
I completed microfilming the minute books on Wednesday 7 July. Mr Sioneholo then suggested that we go on to film old case files but his staff advised that they were still cleaning the papers and sorting them back into files. So he asked me to sort through two cartons of registers (bound and loose, in good condition, wrapped in tissue) which had been transferred from the Museum to the Justice Department prior to the cyclone. I arranged and listed the registers and compared them against the Department’s two sets LDS microfilms (35mm diazo positives) of Niue births and deaths registers, 1900-1994. (LDS file Nos.1886315-1886348. Note that copies of these LDS microfilms have been lodged in the Auckland City Library.) It was agreed that the Bureau would microfilm documents not filmed by the LDS, i.e. registers, marked “Savage Island”, of births and marriages involving Europeans, 1910-1916, and a deaths register, 1916-1917, together with two big series of marriage registers, church and civil, both gappy, 1900-1967. I proceeded to film those registers, plus sort the marriage certificates and film them, on Friday and Saturday, 9 & 10 July, and Monday 12 July.
Having finished this work, Mr Sioneholo suggested that we should go on to microfilm a series of wills rescued from the damaged papers by the staff of the Department and arranged by village and name of the will-maker, which I did, Tuesday-Thursday, 13-15 July. On Thursday among the cartons in the container I found another box of registers holding marriage certificates filling the gaps in the series microfilmed earlier. These were combined with the others, put into numerical order and re-filmed over Friday and Saturday, 16-17 July. Among the damaged records in the container there were also some Land Titling Project Review reports, 1994-1999, which I microfilmed.
Niue National Archives (Community Affairs Archives)
I visited the National Archives and Library at the re-located Department of Community Affairs office in Alofi on Wednesday 7 July. The Archivist, Joan Tahafa (formerly, Talagi) called in at the Justice Department on Wednesday 14 July. I visited the National Archives again on 15 July where I met Robin Hekau and Miss Tahafa.
Mr Hekau, curator of the Huanaki Museum and Cultural Centre, is formally responsible for the Library and Archives as well. He said that he supports the proposal to establish a cultural centre accommodating the library and archives as well as a re-constituted museum. He is aware of Lissant Bolton’s work on the distribution of Pacific artefacts and has compiled lists of Niuean materials held overseas. He is also in correspondence with overseas museums about possible repatriations but has his hands tied until sound accommodation is provided in Niue. He does not have a register of what was held in the Huanaki Museum. He mentioned that the Museum had held some archives, about 10-12 cartons, which had been transferred to the National Archives and Justice Department prior to the cyclone. They included the births, deaths and marriage registers on which I had been working.
Joan Tahafa and I made a rough survey of the extent of the holdings of the Archives. There are about 792 document boxes in the Archives room holding a series of registered closed files Nos. 1-1385, plus some un-numbered files (of both the NZ Administration and the Government of Niue). More than half of them are on pallets, the remainder are shelved. About 150 loose closed files are on shelves, together with several hundred reports and bound publications, including a complete run of Tohi Tala Niue / Niue Newsletter, both Niuean and English issues, 1953-1995, and its successor, the Niue Star, 1996+. A further batch of records of the Niue Consulate Office, Auckland, and a recent transfer of local files is held in the corner of the Museum Room.
Most of the records are now in good condition, but Miss Tahafa confirmed that the Archives register (index) had been lost in the aftermath of the cyclone. The Archives needs more document boxes and shelving for storage. She stated that appointment of an ex-pat archivist for a period would be useful, as recommended by Cuming and Bloomfield, Niue: Report on Cultural Heritage Institutions after Cyclone Heta, 2004. Guidance on re-establishing controls over the records and indexing them is required. Miss Tahafa is hoping that a new building will be provided. Even before the cyclone the Archives did not have a permanent repository but shifted periodically from one building to another.
Miss Tahafa kindly allowed me borrow for microfilming two early births and deaths registers which complemented the “Savage Island” registers already filmed.
Ekalesia Niue
A meeting with the management committee of the Ekalesia Niue was held on the morning of 14 July at the Centenary Hall in Alofi. One of the Justice Department senior staff, Levi, had kindly arranged the meeting. The President of Ekalesia Niue, Rev. Falkland Liuvaie, was present, together with the General Secretary, Rev. Hariesa Feitala, and the Vice-President, Rev. Hawea Jackson. I handed over lists of PMB microfilms of LMS documents, 1910-1953, made by Bob Langdon during the last PMB visit to Niue in 1974. Rev. Jackson said that the Church had not been aware of the existence of the microfilms until recently. No copies of the microfilms are known to be held on the Island and the original LMS records are no longer held by the Church. It was agreed that the Bureau would provide copies of the Niue LMS microfilm to Ekalesia Niue; that the Bureau would make a list of LMS London archives relating to Niue for Ekalesia Niue; and that Ekalesia Niue would consider having microfilms made by the Bureau of its records produced since 1953. Rev Liuvaie graciously thanked the Bureau for its past and present efforts in Niue.
NZ High Commissioner
Sandra Lee-Vercoe, the High Commissioner, invited me to meet her on Monday 12 July. Ms Lee-Vercoe expressed her passionate support for the preservation of Niue’s documentary and cultural heritage. She supported construction of a cultural centre, including an archives repository, in principle without any commitment of NZ funding for the proposition. She asked whether the Australian government would be likely to give funding support for temporary appointment of an ex-pat archivist to stabilize the National Archives, as recommended in the Cuming-Bloomfield report. I reported that, short of a purpose built secure repository, the Community Affairs Archives needs: 1. shelves; 2. an inventory; 3. a computer; and 4. document boxes.
Ms Lee-Vercoe also discussed the destruction of the Museum and asked for information on Niuean artefacts held in Australia, NZ and the UK. She also asked about LMS records relating to Niue held in London.
Fale Fono Archives
The Executive Officer of the Fale Fono, Moira Enetama, left a phone message for me at the Justice Department of Friday 16 July but we did not make contact. I understand that there are documents at the Fale Fono which she would like microfilmed, but have no specific information to date.
Niue NZ Administration archives
An important archival question is what has happened to the records of the NZ Resident Commissioner in Niue? There does not appear to be a complete record group of Resident Commissioner’s Office files comparable with those held by the Cook Islands National Archives. Some NZ administration documents are held in the Justice Department files but not a substantial series. The Niue National Archives’ registered archival series also includes some NZ Niue administration files, in particular personnel files. Mr Sioneholo thought that it is quite possible that the bulk of the Resident Commissioner’s files would have been destroyed. Other people suggested that the remnants, at least, may be held in the Fale Fono Archives.
Although the fieldwork in Niue was relatively successful there are good reasons to return for another two weeks if the Bureau is invited. The early case files of the Justice Department look very interesting and the documents held in them are very fragile. The apparently complete sets of Tohi Tala Niue, the Niue Newsletter and the Niue Star held in the National Archives would be a very useful microfilm title. (The National Library of NZ catalogue indicates that it does not have complete hardcopy sets of these titles). A selection of the 400 or so reports held at the National Archives would also be well worthwhile microfilming. The PMB microfilms of the Ekalesia Niue archives could be brought up to date and, possibly, at-risk documents in the Fale Fono Archives could be microfilmed.
It should be noted that Pambu does not have the capacity to address the two fundamental structural archival issues in Niue, as indicated in the Cuming-Bloomfield report: construction of a permanent archival repository and reconstruction of archival control systems in the National Archives.
I feel privileged to have been able to stay in Niue and to work on some of the island’s precious archives. I enjoyed my brief visit immensely and am very grateful to the people of Niue for their warm welcome, especially to Togia Sioneholo and his staff at the Justice Department, Joan Tahafa and Rev. Hawea Jackson. I also wish to thank Jocelyn Cuming, Richard Overy and Michael Hoyle for information and guidance leading up to the fieldwork.

Ewan Maidment
PMB Executive Officer
19 August 2004

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SOME RECENT PMB MICROFILM TITLES

PMB 1247.  Ian HOSSACK,
Research and planning documents on technical education, training and manpower in Papua New Guinea, 1964-1975. Reels 1-4. (Available for reference.)
Professor Mark Turner, now at the University of Canberra, formerly a lecturer at the PNG Administrative College in Port Moresby, was given these documents in 1991 when he was a Visitor in the Division of Political and Social Change in RSPAS, ANU. He transferred them to the Bureau in May 2004. Ian Hossack, who evidently collected the papers, was an Educational Administrator in PNG. Mr Hossack held positions in the Planning Section of the Papua New Guinea Department of Education and was Assistant Director of the Technical Division of the Department in February 1972. He subsequently worked in the University of PNG Educational Research Unit.
CONTENTS
•    TPNG Administration and Australian Dept of External Territories, reports and papers relating to educational policy, 1966-73.
•    Office of Programming and Co-ordination: publication, 1971. Manpower Planning Unit: reports and publications, 1968-73.
•    Dept of Education: reports, curricula and general papers, 1968-75.
•    Dept of Education, Planning and Research Branch: papers, 1968-73.
•    Dept of Education, Technical Division, planning papers, 1964-73.
•    Apprenticeship Board of PNG: publications and statistics, 1971-73.
•    University of PNG: reports and inquiry background papers, 1971-73.
•    Various other semi-published and published papers on education, 1969-1974.

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PMB 1246 Norman L. WILSON,
Papers on political education and other matters in the Eastern Highlands District, Papua New Guinea, 1964-1979
Reels 1-4. (Available for reference.)
Mr Norman Wilson was a Patrol Officer in Papua New Guinea from 1962 until 1979. His wife, Deirdre, was a secondary school teacher in PNG for eight years. Mr Wilson completed the Australian School of Pacific Administration preliminary training course in August 1962 and undertook the ASOPA long course in 1966. He was a Patrol Officer in the East Sepik District at Maprik, other outstations and Wewak from 1962 to 1968, then in the Chimbu District at Karamui and Chauve until 1970 when he was transferred to the Eastern Highlands as District Political Education Officer. He was responsible for the planning and implementation of the district political education program which was one of the most successful in the country. Mr Wilson was an active member of the Eastern Highlands Cricket Association and a member of the Management Committee of the J.K. McCarthy Museum. After independence Mr Wilson remained in Goroka as Deputy District Commissioner, EHD, until 1979.
CONTENTS     Personal papers of Norman Wilson, 1967 & 1972; ASOPA Law course papers, 1966; Electoral Commission, Electoral Boundaries Commission and related material, 1964-78; Eastern Highlands – Political Education, Provincial Government and Elections, 1970-78; Eastern Highlands papers – general, 1968-78; Resettlement of Chimbus at Karamui, 1971; TPNG, Dept of the Treasury, circulars, 1947-49; TPNG, circulars, 1963-75; Public Service Association of PNG, reports, conference papers and circulars, 1970-73; Publications of the Department of Information and Extension Services and the Political Education Committee, 1968-72; Sundry printed material, 1955-77.

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PMB 1245 Lieutenant W.J. Read RANVR,
Report by on Coastwatching Activity Bougainville Island, 1941-1943, 1974. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
Jack Read joined the Australian administration of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea as a Cadet in 1929. He worked as Patrol Officer in most parts of the Territory, having covered New Britain and the mainland from the Sepik River to the Morobe Goldfields, but had not been located in Bougainville until his appointment in November 1941 as Assistant District Officer in charge of the Buka Passage Sub-District, under District Officer Merrylees. Following the Japanese entry into the War on 8 Dec 1941, Read helped evacuate most European residents from Buka, established inland dumps of emergency provisions and shifted his administration to Bougainville island just before a Japanese attack on the Sub-District HQ on Sohano island on 24 January 1942. Following the winding up of civil administration in February 1942, Read, the only remaining government representative, was appointed Lieutenant in the Australian Navy under Lt Commander Feldt with instructions to remain in Bougainville as a coastwatcher.
CONTENTS     Photocopy of original typescript. Parts I-XI and appendices A-L, includes detailed contents list; Ts., foolscap, 148pp. Appendix M, ‘Map of Bougainville’, missing. Front sheet signed by Jack Read and dated 9 July 1974.

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PMB 1232  Royal PULLEN (1925-   )
Personal correspondence while on botanical expeditions in Papua New Guinea, 1956-1972
1 reel. (Available for reference.)
During the 1950s & 1960s the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) was investigating resources in Papua New Guinea on a broad scale using both air photography and checking ‘ground truth’. As a Botanist with the CSIRO Division of Land Research and Regional Survey, carrying out scientific and terrain exploration in many areas PNG, Mr Pullen wrote regular letters to his wife which are detailed, observant and witty. Mr Pullen’s letters clearly convey his impressions of the country and the people as well as giving a clear account of his botanical survey practices.

CONTENTS    Mr Pullen’s letters document the following expeditions:
1956 Eastern Highlands – Western Highlands
1957 Western Highlands
1958 Ramu – Atitau
1959 Wewak – Lower Sepik
1961 Southern Highlands (Wabag–Tari)
1962 Port Moresby – Kairuku
1963 Kubor Range
1964 Managalase; Finisterre Range (with British Museum)
1966 Gulf District
1967 Port Moresby

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RECENT PAMBU MICROFILM TITLES: MANUSCRIPTS SERIES

PMB 1225    THURNWALD, Richard: Papers on Buin, Sepik and Solomon Islands languages, 1908-1911. Reels 1-3. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1226    CARTER, Gavin. Patrol reports, photographs and related papers, Kainantu and Chimbu and Simbai Patrol Post, Territory of Papua New Guinea, 1959-1964, together with Yambunglin Village Register, 1960-1969. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1227    ARUNDEL FAMILY PAPERS, 1803-1935. Reels 1-2. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1228    NORTON, Robert: Transcripts of political speeches in Fiji, 1965-1968. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1229    SHAW, Basil (1933-2002): Somare: A Political Biography of the First Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, 1991. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1230    LANGDON, Robert (1924-2003): Autobiography: Every Goose a Swan, Volume 2, 1993. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1231    LANGDON, Robert (1924-2003): Correspondence re his book The Lost Caravel, 1986-1998. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1232    PULLEN, Royal (1925-    ): Personal correspondence while on botanical expeditions in Papua New Guinea, 1956-1972. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1233    GLOVER, John Corbett (1909-1948): “The Flying Priest”. Fr Glover’s account of flying experiences in New Guinea, mainly during the Pacific War, including the evacuation to Kainantu and his attempted flight to Thursday Island, 1936-1942. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1235    MACKINNON, Marsali: Fiji Oral History Project in association with the Fiji Museum, Part 1: Part-Europeans and Europeans, transcripts of audio recording series, PMB AUDIO 1-35, 1998-1999. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1236    CLARKE, George (1932-…) Tuvalu physical development plans, reports and related papers, 1973-1993. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1237    SHAND, R.T.  Papers & publications on rural development, economics and labour in Papua New Guinea, 1947-1992. Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1238    GREENPEACE NEW ZEALAND / PEACE MEDIA ORGANISATION. Campaigns protesting against nuclear testing in the Pacific: press cuttings and scrapbooks, 1973-1975, 1985. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1239    GOVERNMENT OF NIUE, Justice, Lands and Survey Department, Land Court: Minutes, 1917-2003. Reels 1-4. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1240    GOVERNMENT OF NIUE, Justice, Lands and Survey Department, Registers of Births and Deaths, 1910-1916, and Marriages, 1900-1972. Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1241    GOVERNMENT OF NIUE, Justice, Lands and Survey Department, Land Court: Wills, 1888-1986. Reels 1-3. (Restricted access.)
PMB 1242    GOVERNMENT OF NIUE, Justice, Lands and Survey Department: Land Titling Project Reports, 1994-1999. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1243    STOBER, W.E. (Ed.), Isles of Disenchantment: The Fletcher / Jacomb Correspondence, letters exchanged between R.J. Fletcher and Edward Jacomb, 1913-1921. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1244    LEISHMAN, Sister Helen (1902-1995), Correspondence from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, 1930-1948. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1245    READ, W.J.  Report on Coastwatching Activity on Bougainville Island, 1941-1943, 1976. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1246    WILSON, Norman L.  Papers on political education and other matters in the Eastern Highlands District, Papua New Guinea, 1963-1978. Reels 1-4. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1247    HOSSACK, Ian: PNG Education, Training and Manpower Planning Documents, 1964-1975. Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.)
PMB 1248    COOK ISLANDS ADMINISTRATION, Resident Commissioner’s Office: Correspondence with Resident Agents, 1901-1970.  Reels 1-17. (Restricted access.)
PMB Doc 464    GREENPEACE NEW ZEALAND NEWSLETTER, 1974-2004. 1 reel. (Available for reference.)
PMB Doc 465    PANGU PATI NIUS (PANGU Political Party of Papua New Guinea), 1970-1972. 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.

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