PAMBU NEWS
Having just celebrated his 100th
birthday,
Professor Harry Maude died in Canberra on 4 November. His survey of
Pacific
archives and manuscripts, The Documentary Basis for Pacific
Studies: a
report on progress and desiderata, written in 1967 was instrumental
in the
formation of the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau.
The Documentary Basis for Pacific
Studies was commissioned by
G.D.
Richardson, then Mitchell Librarian, following a move instigated by the
Sinclair Library at the University of Hawai'i to form an association of
Pacific
research libraries. Maude’s report surveyed Pacific manuscripts at a
schematic
level. It outlined the scope of Pacific documentation, suggested
surveying and
copying programs, and recommended the formation of an Association of
Pacific
Research Libraries “to complete library holdings and improve
bibliographic
control in the case of printed works, and to promote the location,
cataloguing
and copying of manuscripts
relating to the Pacific by the establishment
of a
jointly-operated Manuscripts Clearing Centre.”
This association was never formed, but
the report resulted in the establishment in 1968 of the Pacific
Manuscripts
Bureau based at the Australian National University. The Bureau
continues to
operate as a collaborative joint copying venture. It was supported,
initially,
by the University of Hawaii, the Mitchell, Turnbull and ANU Libraries
and the
National Library of Australia, and now, additionally, by the Library of
the
University of California at San Diego, the University of Auckland
Library, Yale
University Library and the University of Michigan Library.
The continuing successful operation of
the PMB, which is probably the longest running international archives
preservation project in the world, is a tribute to Harry Maude’s vision
and planning.
We are honoured to print Alaric Maude’s eulogy to his father in this
issue of Pambu.
Reports on recent PMB fieldwork in Noumea and
Tuvalu
are also included in this issue of Pambu.
The PMB has commenced microfilming the Fiji
correspondence of CSR Ltd, 1880-1947. Microfilming is also proceeding
on Fr.
Kevin Kerley’s diaries kept during the Bougainville crisis, on Sir John
Gunther’s papers on health administration in PNG, and on a batch of
early LMS,
Samoan District administrative archives.
An unpublished typescript history of the New
Hebrides
Condominium (c.1930) was lent to the PMB for microfilming by Jim Burton
of
Brisbane. Deryck Scarr helped identify R.T.E. Latham (1909-1943) as the
author
of the document.
Rev. Neville Threlfall’s unpublished
manuscript, From
Mangroves to Frangipani: The Story of Rabaul and East New Britain
Province
(1988), has been microfilmed; and Rev. Threlfall has given the PMB
permission
to microfilm his extensive research papers on New Britain.
A photograph album Pacific Islands, 1919,
documenting an official tour by Lord Liverpool, Governor-General of New
Zealand, in the possession of Dr Ewan Johnston (RSPAS, ANU) has been
microfilmed and digitised.
Aerial photographs made for the Vanuatu
Resource
Information System, which Chris Ballard transferred to the PMB, have
been arranged
and listed. A detailed listing of Bill Coppell’s bibliographic data and
research papers on the Cook Islands, Norfolk Island and other
Polynesian
islands, which the PMB has held for some time, has also been compiled.
The PMB has surveyed a large collection of
volcanological research materials, mainly relating to PNG and the
Solomon
Islands, held by Dr R.W. Johnson. They include papers of the
volcanologists
R.J.S. Cooke, killed at Karkar in 1971, and Tony Taylor.
Dr Peter Sack’s unpublished manuscripts, his
Tolai
materials and his general collection of research documents on German
New Guinea
were also surveyed. Five cartons of Professor John Ballard’s research
papers on
PNG administration and provincial government, 1945-1985, have been
transferred
to the PMB. Professor Gerard Ward’s research papers are being
transferred to
the ANU Archives pending the appointment of the Pacific Archivist.
Papers and
audio recordings of Professor Stephen Wurm have also been transferred
from the
PMB to the ANU Archives.
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PAPERS OF SIR RAYMOND FIRTH
AT LSE ARCHIVES
The
Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science is
happy to
announce the completion of the catalogue for the papers of the
anthropologist
Sir Raymond Firth. This catalogue covers the whole of the Firth papers
(over
1000 files) and can be accessed online via our Archives Catalogue (http://archives.lse.ac.uk/).
Our Firth collection reflects all aspects of
Sir
Raymond’s long and wide-ranging career, but there are several sections
which
are of particular relevance to researchers studying the history and
culture of
the Pacific.
As
might be expected, Sir Raymond’s studies of the Tikopia feature
strongly in the
collection. Firth first visited the island of Tikopia in 1928-1929 and
returned
again for shorter visits in 1952 and 1966. His research there formed
the basis
of a series of books and articles covering all aspects of Tikopia
culture and
society. Some of the highlights include:
·
An
extensive
series of field notes and diaries compiled by Firth during his visits
to
Tikopia in 1928-1929, 1952 and 1966
·
Over
1000
fieldwork negatives and photographs taken by Firth as part of his
Tikopia
research (these are only covered briefly in the current online
catalogue; a
fuller list of these is being compiled and will be published later this
year)
·
Correspondence
and working papers for Firth’s Tikopia-English dictionary and Tikopia
songs
projects
·
Notes
and drafts
of lectures, articles and other publications on the Tikopia
·
Notes
by W.J.
Durrad documenting his visit to Tikopia in 1910, used by Firth as
preparation
for his first field work expedition
Firth’s
early studies in his native New Zealand in the 1920s are also
represented,
including:
·
Notes
and drafts
for his MA thesis on the Kauri Gum industry
·
Notes
and
photographs from his visits to Tuhoe land
·
Notes
and drafts
for his PhD thesis on the economics of Maori society
·
Letters
from
Elsdon Best, William Baucke, Hohepa Te Rake Te Kiri, Norman Potts,
Sister Annie
Henry, George Graham and Gilbert Archey
The collection also contains material
relating to
Firth’s involvement with the establishment of Australian National
University in
1946, and in particular with the foundation of ANU’s Research School of
Pacific
Studies, including correspondence with J.W. Davidson, Keith Hancock and
other
founder ANU staff.
Firth corresponded widely with friends and
colleagues
who shared his interest in the Pacific region. Our collection includes
letters
from Cyril Belshaw, P.H. Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa), Dorothy Crozier, A.P.
Elkin,
Reo Fortune, A.W.F. Fuller, W.C. Groves, Ian Hogbin, Felix Keesing,
H.E. Maude,
Margaret Mead, Joan Metge, Torben Monberg, A.R. Radcliffe-Brown,
Charles
Seligman and W.E.H. Stanner.
These original papers are only available for
research
in the Library’s Archives reading room, but we are happy to consider
requests
for copies from researchers who are unable to visit us in person. For
further information,
please visit our website at http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/
or contact us at document@lse.ac.uk
Anna Towlson
Assistant Archivist
Library of the
London School of Economics and Political Science
Raymond and Rosemary Firth on
their way to Malaya, 1939. Firth Collection, LSE Archives.
Return to Top
HARRY MAUDE 1906-2006
Harry
Maude was born at Bankipore in India on 1 October 1906, the last of six
children. His father was a senior
officer in the Indian Civil Service.
After an intermittent and inadequate schooling in India, he was
sent to
his father’s old school in London. There
his academic record was undistinguished, to say the least, largely
because of
the deficiencies in his previous education.
The headmaster wrote to Harry’s father advising against sending
him to
university as, to quote from the biography by Susan Woodburn, ‘when the
good
lord was distributing brains, I’m afraid that Harry must have been
behind the
door’. But his father had more faith,
and with tutorial help Harry managed to scrape into Jesus College,
Cambridge. There he studied Economics and
then Anthropology,
graduating with a better class of Honours than his old headmaster. The headmaster would have been even more
astonished to learn, as I did only three weeks ago, that Harry is
listed as one
of Highgate School’s famous old boys, sandwiched between a Lord and a
cricketer
who played for England.
In 1929, newly graduated, Harry was appointed
to the
British Colonial Service as a cadet in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Colony,
the only place he wanted to go, married my mother Honor, and set off
for the
Pacific. He remained in the Pacific,
with posts in Fiji, Tonga and Pitcairn Island as well as the Gilberts,
for most
of the next 20 years, apart from an unhappy spell in Zanzibar. At the end of 1948 he joined the newly
established South Pacific Commission, and within a year became head of
the
Social Development branch. He set up his
office in Sydney, which is how we became Australians.
In 1957 he joined the Department of Pacific
History at the Australian National University, which is how we became
Canberrans. After retirement in 1970 he
continued to
write and publish, and he and Honor worked together to produce a series
of
books on the Gilbert Islands, now Kiribati.
Honor died in 2001, ending a remarkable partnership of over 71
years. His final years were spent at
Jindalee Nursing Home, as scholar-in-residence, where his health
improved with
the care he received, and he became a much-loved person, despite
constant, and
successful, attempts to escape.
What should we remember him for?
Robert Langdon, in a short biography of Harry
published in 1978, called him ‘shy proconsul and dedicated Pacific
historian’.
Doug Munro, in a yet-to-be published manuscript, describes him as
‘loyal
lieutenant and incurable romantic.’ His
biographer, Susan Woodburn, writes of his role as an academic as that
of
‘informant, model and mentor’. Many who
sent messages on Harry’s 100th birthday confirmed these
qualities.
He was morally strong, and I think that this,
along
with my mother’s influence, preserved him from the pitfalls and traps
of
colonial life.
In his professional life he was unfailingly
helpful. He spent a lot of his time as
an academic and in retirement helping students, colleagues and anyone
with
advice, information on sources and comments on their manuscripts. He was constantly answering correspondence
from all over the world, all of it neatly filed and preserved. On the occasion of his 100th
birthday one former student wrote that ‘you were the most generous of
supervisors’; another of the ‘time and effort you took, gently
encouraging me
to persist and expand’; and yet another that ‘I have never stopped
thanking you
in my inner spirit for your confidence in me.’
He was modest.
He was quietly proud of his achievements, but didn’t expect
anyone to
take much notice of them. Yet they were
recognised, by the comments I have just read, by the book of essays in
his
honour edited by Niel Gunson, by an award by the Government of
Kiribati, and by
the fact that he is still remembered in those islands for his work as a
preserver and publisher of the record of its history and culture.
He was a product of the Enlightenment,
believing in
the power of reason and rational thought.
At various times he claimed to be (but you could never be quite
sure) an
atheist, an agnostic, and a humanist.
But he was also drawn to both Unitarianism, for its theological
simplicity, and high church Anglicanism, for its pomp and ceremony. In his last years he clearly had a faith,
which he carried with quiet conviction, and enjoyed the regular
Anglican
services at Jindalee.
In his attitudes and actions he was
progressive. At university he joined the
Freedom group of
the British Anarchists, from which he only resigned in his eighties. In the Pacific he supported the interests of
the indigenous peoples. He sometimes
clashed with the missions and his superiors over his defence of
Gilbertese
custom. He once told me that he thought
his greatest contribution to human happiness had been to remove some
130
draconian regulations, inspired by the missions, the traders and
British
officials, from Gilbertese law. In his
research into Pacific history, to which he dedicated the second half of
his
life, he wanted to tell the story of the Pacific peoples, which he
called
mainstream history, and not that of the colonial powers.
He was definitely a romantic.
He was drawn to the Central Pacific by the
literature of Robert Louis Stevenson, and wrote that his and Honor’s
first view
of a coral atoll was ‘a picture of such beauty, peace and solitude that
it has
been engraved on our memory ever since.
We were captivated once and forever by the magic of the South
Sea
Islands.’ The other side of this was
that he wasn’t very practical, as my mother could have told you at some
length.
But in historical research he was
very
practical, a true craftsman. He was
passionate about locating and preserving the source materials of
Pacific
History. He knew where to find
information on the most obscure topics, and loved filling in the
details of
historical events, rather like in a crossword puzzle.
His favourite amongst his publications, Slavers
in Paradise, was described by the reviewers as ‘a masterpiece’ and
‘a gem’,
and involved detective work in three languages and many archives. He
combined
this meticulous scholarship with an equal determination to tell a good
story in
good prose. For Harry history was
literature. Here is an example, drawn to
my attention by his grandson Richard. It
comes at the end of his essay on beachcombers and castaways, Europeans
who
lived unprotected and uncertain lives in the islands long before the
colonial
period:
…in
the beachcomber era … there was as yet no trader to interfere with the
economic
life of the islander, no missionary dedicated to changing his religion,
no
planter demanding his labour, and no government official his freedom. There was only the beachcomber and the
castaway to represent what was to come; often drunken, profligate and
quarrelsome, but still essentially human and tolerant, and wishing to
change no
one.
Finally, we should remember him for his sense
of
humour. You could always get a smile and
a laugh from him, and he rejoiced in the occasional absurdity of life,
whether
in the middle of the Pacific, in a university or in a nursing home. I came across this passage in his biography
in which a colleague, describing Harry’s South Pacific Commission
office in
Sydney in the 1950s, wrote:
Maude
directed and guided us by suggestion, discussion and laughter; a sense
of
humour was essential in that office, together with a slightly mad
streak and a
willingness to work peculiar hours.
We
should not regret his passing. He lived
a full and productive life. He achieved
just about everything he wanted to achieve, and lived to see his work
recognised by others. He had a
successful and lasting marriage, though not one without its ups and
downs. He lived to enjoy his 100th
birthday, and the messages he received.
But he was ready to move on. He
once complained to his grandson James about his inability to die (as he
did to
many of you here) and said that it was like being at a bus stop. Everyone else seemed to catch the bus but he
kept missing it. This time he caught the
bus.
Alaric Maude
Adelaide
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* *
*
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN
GOOD GOVERNANCE FOR THE FUTURE SOUTH PACIFIC
‘School’s
the place
where you’re supposed to learn your history, but I had to leave to find
out
what really happened.’(1) Maori actor, Nancy Brunning.
As
the tiny nations of the South Pacific wrestle with issues of global
warming
that threaten their existence, and their votes are sought and bought by
larger
powers for their own economic interests, it is important to discuss the
role of
education in the region. If there is to be effective leadership in the
next 20
years to tackle poverty, unemployment, international exploitation and
an
environmental crisis, education needs to reflect the social, cultural
and
political aspirations of South Pacific communities. The argument
expressed in
Melbourne’s Sunday Age that ‘Poverty is ultimately linked to
poor
governance, especially ineffectual leadership and corruption’(2) lays
the
blame for struggling nation states squarely at the feet of local
government
agents and avoids all responsibility for the extraction of resources,
the self
serving withdrawal of colonial powers (and companies) – without
sufficient
handover of skills and infrastructure – and long term neglect.
The Australian government is quick to
criticize
fledgling governments of small nation states, most recently, East Timor
and the
Solomon Islands, however these are both cases of small populations
awash with
arms from neighbouring struggles not of their own making. While ‘bad
news’
makes headlines, virtually no attention is given to the comparative
stability
and low crime rates in most South Pacific Island nations.
Despite high per capita poverty rates(3),
post war
governments in the South Pacific, for example Western Samoa, Cook
Islands,
Niue, and until recently Tonga (see below) have achieved relatively
calm and
orderly governance and for this, receive little or no credit, nor
recognition. For
this reason it is important to evaluate what is working, as
well as
identify what needs to be done differently – from a Pacific perspective.
In order for sound governance to gain a
foothold and
be sustained, several factors need to be in place. Good record keeping
is
essential for the gathering of data, firstly in order to lobby for
specifically
targeted projects, and secondly to ensure government monies (including
subsidized funding from larger countries), are spent in an organized
and
equitable way. For distribution of the
‘donor dollar’ to be seen as fair and in some way useful, the
decision-making
process behind the distribution needs to be assessed in terms
of the
relationship between those people who are supposed to be served, and
those
doing the funding. In the present situation where on-going financial
support in
the form of ‘aid’ is delivered by countries such as Australia and New
Zealand,
there is currently no requirement for politicians or administrators to
have any
real understanding of the countries and communities they are assisting. Greg Sheridan’s article ‘Throw troops at
Pacific Failures’(4)[i] is a damning response to Australia’s
surprise at the
public reaction to Snyder Rini’s appointment as Prime Minister in the
Solomon
Islands: ‘…the failure to pick up any
verbal cues from the crowd of the devastating riot that followed, has
to be
chalked up as a failure of intelligence and execution’. This
indifference and
distraction exhibited by Australia has left the door open for other
interests,
such as those of China, to move into the region and make significant
inroads in
the development decisions in a region that Australia has long regarded
as its
own back yard.
Ideally the political structure observed in
small
island nations should reflect a localized understanding and
identification of
developmental needs and educational goals. This should be a two way
process
that involves the aid-donating countries being familiar with local
custom,
protocols, and decision-making, and also in reverse – those being
governed need
to be included in how these processes work in a way that is relevant to
their
communities. With the Western obsession
that ‘democracy’ is the sole model and ideal of governance, it is easy
to
forget that ‘one man one vote’ may simply not be the best form of
social and
political organization. For example, for
Aboriginal people in Australia constituting approximately 2% of the
population,
democracy as such, offers no guarantee of a national ‘voice’ or
representation.
In most Pacific Island countries, the family/clan/village still retains
a
significance greater than any one individual in it. Michael Lieber in
his essay
Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in the Pacific, describes how
this
‘consocial’ identity reflects the value of kinship ties with the
extended
family which is widely typical of a Pacific concept of self. ‘The
person is not
an individual in the Western sense of the term … (they are) a locus of
shared
biographies: personal histories of
people’s relationships with other people and with things.’(4)
Professor Konai Helu Thaman, Head of the
School of
Humanities at the University of the South Pacific and the UNESCO Chair
in
Teacher Education and Culture, argues that there ought to be
recognition and
regard for the collective experience and shared cultural identity, and
that
this needs to be reflected in the education process. She articulates
what is
often a fundamental dilemma for indigenous students facing a highly
competitive
and individualistic education system which measures and rewards success
in
terms of personal status and wealth:
‘… we know that
Pacific Island
(nationals) are generally more collective than individualistic …
perhaps there
is something in this discrepancy that explains why some students seem
to be
having difficulties staying at school, an alien place which pushes out
students
who do not conform and where in order to be successful, students will
need to
hang their cultural identities at the school gates and perhaps for the
first
time be a person with no connections to anyone or anything’(5).
It is the refusal of Western theorists,
teachers,
politicians and business leaders to appreciate and work with this
perception of
self and family that continues to cause systemic failure in much of the
Third
World, not just the Pacific. The Western focus on the individual -
whether as a
student, worker, bureaucrat or entrepreneur – fails to acknowledge, let
alone
nourish an awareness of community. In turn, the breakdown of community
in First
World countries is demonstrably leading to many adverse long term
effects on
physical and mental health, and is frequently accompanied by associated
feelings
of isolation and insecurity. While Australia’s major political parties
continue
to advocate a vague agenda of ‘Family First’ values, the society
continues to
suffer an escalating incidence of youth suicide, long term
unemployment, post
natal depression, domestic violence and the shocking illustration
recently of
half a dozen people found dead at home, alone and unmourned, their
situation
unnoticed by neighbours, family, friends or government agency.
In order to avoid perpetrating a system of
exclusion,
it is essential that the delivery of education embraces and reflects a
cultural
framework relevant to the indigenous student, and more broadly their
communities. In Tree of Opportunity:
Re-thinking
Pacific Education, Professor Thaman concludes ‘Pacific educators
also need
to understand the interaction between education and culture and between
economy
and culture’(6) If the aim of
social justice is to promote realistic expectations of fair governance,
increased participation, and reduced feelings of powerlessness,
‘education’
also needs to include public education to underpin informed discussion
at local
government level. As long as only those
individuals with a fairly high standard of western education are in the
positions of political influence, and the expectations of government’s
role is
not understood by the broader population group, there is risk of a gulf
arising
in terms of unrealistic expectations, bitterness, distrust and
resentment. This
leaves the ‘indigenous bureaucrat’ in an uncomfortable situation:
either unable
to meet targets set by western donor countries because of complexities
of
community or kinship responsibilities and/or frustration at not being
able to
deliver to the local community because of entrenched, ill-informed and
inappropriate demands by the donor countries or agencies. In the case
of Tonga,
growing popular resentment at the limited role of elected officials –
or commoners
– is a case in point. The confluence of the expectations of democracy,
desire
for change and respect for tradition may yet see a transition to a
constitutional monarchy that was unthinkable even a decade ago.
Education is the bridge. It is essential that
education realistically prepares people to understand the roles and
responsibilities of government, thus providing tools for the community
in
decision making, while at the same time lobbying for more effective
cultural
awareness by committees, NGO’s, researchers, government departments and
representatives
of donor countries. It is this mutual process of growth and
understanding that
will pave the way for good governance in the Pacific, and equip leaders
to
withstand the immense challenges and move forward to a sustainable
future.
1.
Brunning,
N in Mana
Wahine: Women Who Show the Way, ed
Amy Brown, Auckland Reed Books 1994, p178
2.
Australian
Government, AusAID, Lonely Planet poster guide, reprinted in The
Sunday Age,
21 May 2006.
3.
See 2.
About 20%
of Samoans are estimated to be living below the basic needs poverty
line and 8%
below the food poverty line. In Vanuatu, 40% of the population lives
below the
poverty line and 40% do not have access to clean drinking water.
4.
Greg
Sheridan,
‘Throw Troops at Pacific Failures’, Weekend Australian, June
3-4, 2006
5.
Lieber,
M.
‘Lamarckian Definitions on Kapingamarangi and Pohmpei’ in Cultural
Identity
and Ethnicity in the Pacific, Jocelyn Linnekin and Lin Poyer eds,
Honolulu:
U of Hawaii Press 1990, p.7
6.
Thaman,
K. ‘Towards Cultural Democracy in Pacific
Education: an imperative for the 21st
century’, Tree of Opportunity:
Re-thinking Pacific Education, U of South Pacific Institute
of
Education 2002, p.26
- See Thaman, K, p.30
Lena Rodriguez
In 2003 Lena Rodriguez completed a Master’s
thesis, Kainga
Mai The Return Home, investigating the impact of
migration on
South Pacific visual artists. She is currently teaching in Health and
Sociology
at the University of Newcastle.
Return to Top
*
*
*
LETTERS OF SIR DONALD AND
DAME RACHEL CLELAND.
Pandanus
books have recently published My Dearest Brown Eyes: Letters
between Sir
Donald Cleland and Dame Rachel Cleland during World War II, October
2006. ISBN 978-1-74076-085-0, price
$34.95. The
letters have been introduced and edited by Nancy Lutton, formerly Chief
Archivist at the National Archives of Papua New Guinea.
The original letters form part of two groups
of
records now held by the National Library of Australia. The groups are
those of
Sir Donald Cleland (1901-1975), formerly Administrator of Papua and New
Guinea
from 1953 to 1967, MS 9600, and those of Dame Rachel Cleland
(1906-2002), his
wife and community and environmental activist, MS 9601.
The book deals only with the letters written
during
World War II, when Don Cleland served overseas with the 6th
Division
in the Middle East, Greece, Crete, Java, Western Australia and finally
as
second in command of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit in
New
Guinea. Rachel at home in Perth, Western Australia, bringing up two
sons, coped
alone while becoming involved with Red Cross and other charitable
organizations. The letters evocatively illustrate the emotion and pain
of
enforced separation. It is a love story as well as a commentary from
two
different points of view on the progress of the war and a political
debate
looking forward to a post-war Australia.
The records held in the National Library of
Australia
are the private papers of these two people. The official records of Sir
Donald
Cleland’s administration of PNG are to be found in the National
Archives of
Papua New Guinea and also to a certain extent in the National Archives
of
Australia, especially in the records of the Department of External
Territories.
Dame Rachel’s papers are the more extensive as she was very involved in
community activities all her long life. They cover her many activities
as
Administrator’s wife in Papua and New Guinea particularly with the Girl
Guide
Movement and PNG cultural activities, for which she was awarded DBE by
the PNG
government in 1980. Then when she returned to live in Western Australia
after
Sir Donald’s death, she became very involved again. In particular she
was
active in Aboriginal Land matters and in the Save the Old Growth
Forests
campaign in Western Australia in the 1990s. She wrote two books about
her time
in PNG, Pathways to Independence, published in 1985, and Grassroots
to Independence and beyond: the contribution by women in PNG 1951 to
1991, published
in 1996. All drafts of these books are preserved in the papers. She
also kept
up a large correspondence with many people, family and friends.
Private
papers such as these are extremely valuable for researchers in the
study of
history and events.
Nancy Lutton
Canberra
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*
*
*
PMB FIELDWORK IN NOUMEA,
20-25 August 2006
The
following microfilms were made:
·
PMB
1179/Reels
1-2, F.L. Jones, Diaries and Notebook kept at Vanikoro and Santa Cruz,
Solomon
Islands, and in the New Hebrides, 1930-1953. (Available for reference.)
·
PMB
Doc 479/Reels
1-2, Kanak, Organe d’information du Parti de Libération Kanak,
Nos.
1-211 (gaps), 1976-2006. (Available for reference.)
·
PMB
Doc 480/Reel
1, Nouvelles 1878 Andi Ma Dhô (Le groupe 1878, Noumea),
Nos.1-68,
1975-1981. (Available for reference.)
Diaries
of Fred Jones. The main
reason for
the fieldwork was to microfilm diaries of Fred Jones, a trader based at
Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands in the 1930s and 1940s. Reece Discombe
of Port
Vila had suggested that the PMB microfilm the documents which had been
lent to
Béatrice Chaniel of Noumea by Fred Jones’ son, Jimmy Jones. The latter
had
given the PMB permission to make the microfilm.
Fred Louis Jones was born in England in 1902.
He
arrived in Port Vila in the mid 1920s. He may have worked as District
Officer
in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate for a brief time in the
1920s.
About 1930 he purchased a trading schooner, Quand meme, in Port
Vila,
and then established a trade store in Vanikoro. Fred Jones developed a
broad
interest in aspects of Santa Cruz culture, see for example, H.G.
Beasley and
F.L. Jones, ‘Notes on Red Feather Money from Santa Cruz Group, New
Hebrides’,
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (Vol.66, Jul-Dec
1936). He
later purchased an Island in the Banks Group, Vanuatu, where his son,
Jimmy,
still lives. Fred Jones retired to Australia and died in Sydney in 1987.
Fred Jones’ diaries cover the periods, 1930,
1933-1937, and 1941-1953. His 1953 diary is written in the Agenda
published by the New Caledonian firm Établissements Ballande in 1953,
the
centenary year of the French occupation of New Caledonia. The prolific
advertisements
and photographs printed in the Agenda reflect commercial life
in New
Caledonia and the New Hebrides at the time. Amongst the papers
microfilmed is
also Fred Jones’ general notebook which consists of a series of essays,
including: “Japan Reaches Out”; “A Brief Account of a Day Fishing for
Trochus
Shells”; “An Account of a Shark Fishing Disaster at Santa Cruz August
1935”;
“H.A. Bernatzik”; “Bishop Molyneux”; “Menaduka / Menduka / Meduka”;
“Mermunda –
a Spirit”; Dukas at Santo Bay compared to the old gods at the Reef
Islands and
Duff Group and other notes on five kinds of “dukas”; and the “Story of
Nolarlingi and Darwi”.
Jimmy Jones lent his father’s diaries to
Béatrice
Chaniel in 2000 when Béatrice and her husband, Raymond, sailed to
Vanikoro to
help reconstruct the memorial to La Perouse. Béatrice has transcribed
most of
the diaries and is planning an annotated edition of them for
publication
together with a biographical note on Fred Jones. Béatrice also has an
interest
in ethnology, especially niVanuatu, and has collected folk tales and
songs
which she also intends to publish.
Kanak, Parti de
Libération Kanak (PALIKA). During an
acquisition trip to Noumea late last year, Kathy
Creely (Melanesian Studies Resource Center, UCSD) heard that PALIKA had
a good
run of its journal, Kanak, and subsequently asked the PMB to
see whether
it could make a microfilm copy of it. In Noumea Charles Wea, a member
of the
PALIKA Politbureau, gave permission for the PMB to microfilm Kanak
on
condition that the Party’s intellectual property is respected. Working
in the
PALIKA office, a newly appointed administrator, Roger, and I compiled a
fairly
strong run of Kanak, 1976-2006, from duplicate copies held in
the office
which were microfilmed on site together with a newsletter, Nouvelles,
1975-1981, published by the Group of 1878. In the evening, having
exhausted all
the film on hand and packed up the camera, a group of people came in to
the
office for a meeting, among them Madeleine Ounou, who pointed out a
near-complete bound set of the Kanak in one of the bookcases.
Arrangements will be made to film the missing issues before the PMB
microfilm
is released.
Union
Syndicale des Travailleurs Kanaks et des Expolités (USTKE). I renewed
contact with USTKE which Brij Lal and I
had last visited in 1997. The
President, Gérard
Jodar, kindly arranged for a duplicate set of the Union’s journal, Combat
Ouvrier (‘Workers’ Struggle’), to be gathered for microfilming. M.
Jodar
said that the journal has been discontinued recently, but would be
replaced by
a new USTKE publication. I called back on the following day and was
given a
broken set of Combat Ouvrier, Jun 1992-Mar 2001, together with
a letter
giving the PMB authority to make the microfilm. To fill the gaps the
PMB will
make arrangements to microfilm issues held by the Territorial Archives
of New
Caledonia.
Archives
Territoriales de Nouvelle-Calédonie. At a
meeting with Ismet Kurtovich, the Director, and
Nicolas Dubuisson, Archivist, we discussed the PMB projects in Noumea
and our on-going
collaborative project at the Supreme Court of Vanuatu. The Territorial
Archives
holds incomplete runs of a number of Kanak journals: Bwenando
(FLNK), Kanak
(PALIKA), Combat Ouvrier (USTKE). The Archives also has a
complete run
of La Dépêche Kanak / The Kanak Dispatch (Agence Kanak
de presse)
1985+, a daily press release issued by the FLNK in French and English.
So long
as the publisher, Jean Pierre, gives permission, the Territorial
Archives would
like to collaborate with the PMB on microfilming the complete set of La
Dépêche Kanak.
Secretariat
of the Pacific Community, Archives. Eleanor
Kleiber is now SPC Librarian, having taken
over from Rachele Oriente. We toured the archives repository with
Veronique
Fayard, the SPC Records Manager, and Robert Appel, a professional
Archivist who
is voluntarily assisting the SPC. The archives, which are in
extraordinarily
good order, include records of “The First Twenty Years” of the SPC
(1947-1967),
arranged by function in 10 bays of compactus (50 shelf metres).
Veronique gave
the PMB an original SPC file index and archival shelf list for this
part of the
archives. Robert has prepared a plan for making digital copies of the
archives,
after applying a disposal schedule. As excessive floor loading is
damaging the
building housing the archives there definitely will be a change in
repository
arrangements.
*
*
*
PMB FIELDWORK IN TUVALU,
23 Sep-20 Oct 2006
On
the basis of a successful pilot project in Tuvalu in September 2005,
the
Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) has allocated a further grant for a
Tuvalu
National Archives Major Project to be carried out by Richard Overy,
Mila
Tulimanu and the staff of the Tuvalu National Library and Archives
(TNLA), and
the PMB, in the period September 2006 to May 2008.
This year’s fieldwork is the first stage of
the Major
Project. It produced 23 reels of microfilm (c.13,000 frames) and about
10,000
digital images of documents held at the Tuvalu National Archives. In
addition,
records of the Nui, Nukufetau and Vaitupu Island Councils and Island
Courts
were surveyed on site.
The following microfilms were made:
PMB 1283 Gilbert
and Ellice Islands Colony, Ellice Islands
District: Island Council, Courts and Lands Commission Records:
Nanumaga,
Niutao, Nui, Nukufetau, and Nukulaelae Islands. Reels 1-19. (Access for
research purposes only. Not to be reproduced without written permission
of the
Tuvalu National Library and Archives.)
PMB 1284 South
Pacific Board of Health, Minutes, 1949-1970, and South Pacific Health
Service,
Inspector-General’s Reports, 1946-1967. 1 reel. (Available for
reference.)
PMB Doc 482 Tala
o Tuvalu (Information Office,
Gilbert
and Ellice Islands Colony, Tarawa), 1947-1964 (gaps). (Available for
reference.)
PMB Doc 483 Tusitala (Mai Te Ulu Kalapu Fafine, Tarawa, GEIC)
[Women’s
Club Newsletter], 1966-1972. (Available for reference.)
PMB Doc 484 Valo (GEIC
Information Office, Tarawa),
1965-1971. (Available for reference.)
PMB Doc 485 Tuvalu
News Sheet (Broadcasting and Information Division of the Ministry
of Home
Affairs, Vaiaku, Funafuti, Tuvalu), 1976-1979. (Available for
reference.)
The following material was digitised:
EAP110_LIST_1/185:
Western Pacific Archives, Tuvalu Archives Control Lists.
EAP110_1-0322:
TUV1(II) Ellice Islands Annual Reports
EAP110_323-612:
TUV1(III) Laws and Regulations
EAP110_613-1944:
TUV1(IV) Miscellaneous Reports
EAP110_1945-1995:
TUV2(I) Registers and Indexes
EAP110_1996-5811:
TUV2(II) General Correspondence 1947-68
EAP110_5812-5863:
TUV2(III) General Correspondence 1943-1947
EAP110_5864-6068:
TUV3(II) Misc. Reports, 1952
EAP110_6069-6093:
TUV3(III) Annual Reports, 1967-1968
EAP110_6094-6651:
TUV3(IV) Various Instructions
EAP110_MISC_1-2763:
Misc. published documents
The Endangered Archives Programme is funded
by the
Lisbet Rausing Foundation and administered by the British Library.
Richard
Overy, who is the Tuvalu National Archives Major Project principle
applicant,
has been appointed as a Visiting Fellow in RSPAS for the duration of
the
project.
The first part of our stay was very hot from
early in
the morning until the late afternoon. Later on, stormy weather brought
torrential rain and strong winds coinciding with a king tide. The roar
of the
breakers on the reef and flooding along the edge of the airstrip gave a
sense
of the vulnerability of the atoll. There was some political excitement
as the
Prime Minister withstood an accusation of electioneering corruption. In
the
Supreme Court the Chief Justice upheld the right of an evangelical
mission, the
Brethren Church, to proselytise in Tuvalu. The Minister for Education,
who we
met informally twice, expressed interest in the EAP project and asked
for
copies of our report.
The TNLA itself needs attention to building
maintenance. The guttering has rusted out and collapsed causing mould
growth on
the exterior wall of the archives repository. However there is no mould
inside
the repository: a new air-conditioner has been installed and the
archives are
in good condition. The TNLA’s fine Tuvalu and Pacific Collections are
also in
relatively good order, despite heavy use. The general library is
looking a bit
run down – reflecting difficulties with funding and staffing levels.
Despite the difficulties, the TNLA staff were
exceptionally welcoming and enthusiastically ensured that the project
accomplished as much as possible. Mrs Tulimanu gave the project her
full
support. Tutuila
Tekui, the Library Assistant, delayed
taking her maternity leave in order to take part in the digital
copying.
Tutaima Tolauapi, Assistant Archivist, devoted much of her time and
energy,
over and above her ordinary duties, to preparing records for
microfilming and
to assisting with the filming and digital copying, even though her
family was
preparing to leave Tuvalu to work in New Zealand. Tigaga Mailemua, a
trainee at
the TNLA, also helped with the microfilming, especially with the large
volumes,
and assisted with some of the digital copying. Apart from the work,
there was
also time for an occasional beer after work, and for three enormous
feasts with
the TNLA staff and Togiola Funafuti, who is now the USP Centre
Librarian.
Mr Overy installed an external DVD R/W device
on the
TNLA’s only computer. Using the new DVD reader, we showed the TNLA
staff the
disk copies of the Nanumea and Funafuti Island Council and Lands Court
archives
scanned from the microfilms made during the Pilot Project to .tif and
.pdf
files on DVD, and hyper-linked to the listing (PMB 1257/Reels 1-11).
Guided by Mrs Tolauapi, the Nanumaga, Niutao,
Nui,
Nukufetau, and Nukulaelae Island Council and Lands records were
microfilmed, i.e.
part TUV4 of the GEIC Ellice Islands District administrative archives,
as
arranged by the Western Pacific Archives. All the Island Council
archives held
at the TNLA have now been microfilmed, except Vaitupu. Most of these
records
are in the Tuvaluan language, except the Lands Commission papers which
are in
English. Many of the pre-War Lands Commission records are very fragile.
We also
commenced microfilming the Tuvaluan newspapers held by the TNLA.
The digital reformatting was carried out
using an
improved system based on the camera’s ‘remote capture’ facility.
Selected
documents from parts TUV 1, TUV 2 and TUV 3 of the WPA listings were
digitised.
A series of miscellaneous documents located elsewhere in the TNLA
repository
was also digitised, focusing on records documenting Tuvaluan language,
history,
environment, culture, traditions, customs, skills and arts. Before
departure, copies
of the digitally reformatted materials made during the visit were
downloaded to
the TNLA’s computer and back-up disks were lodged with the Archives.
Taking a round trip on the inter-island
ferry, MV Nivaga,
5-9 October, Mrs Tulimanu and Mr Overy surveyed records held on
Vaitupu, Nui
and Nukufetau. They found that there are records of the Kaupule (Island
Councils) and Lands Courts on all three Islands, and in particular
extensive
records held in Vaitupu. Their custodians were reluctant to transfer
non-current documents to Funafuti, however they would allow copies to
be made
if a visit can be arranged during the next stage of the EAP project.
Ewan Maidment,
PMB Executive Officer
Tigaga Mailemua making digital copies of documents
in the TNLA staff office, Oct 2006.
Return to Top
RECENT
PMB MANUSCRIPTS SERIES MICROFILMS ON NIUE
The land tenure system
in Niue,
as laid down under the Niue Act 1966 (formerly the Cook Islands Act
1915), was
taken directly from legislation affecting Maori land in New Zealand.
The Niue
Land Court was directed to investigate the titles to customary land
according
to Niuean custom and usage, and at the same time it was directed that
all
titles issued must be freehold titles. Polynesian customary land tenure
was
diametrically opposed to freehold tenure and the two could not mix.
(From J.M.
McEwen, Report on Land Tenure in Niue, Wellington, Govt.
Printer, 1968;
p.7.) Originally constituted as the Native Land Court, the Land Court
is now
(2004) a Division of the High Court of Niue. Appeals from a decision of
the
High Court are heard by the Niue Court of Appeal.
The Niue
Justice Department archives were damaged by sea surges associated with
Cyclone
Heta in January 2004. Many of the Land Court Minute Books were
saturated, water-soluble
ink was washed away and in some cases there is also mould damage.
CONTENTS: Land Court Minute Books, Volumes 1-12,
Aug
1941-Dec 2003, indexed, some volumes badly water damaged; together
with:
Minutes of Adoption Cases, 1917-1932, Minutes of Adoption Orders,
1917-1924;
and Niue High Court, Land Division, Appeals Minute Book, May-Nov 1992.
See
Reel List for details.
PMB
1240 GOVERNMENT OF NIUE,
Justice, Lands and Survey Department,
Registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages,
1910-1916, 1900-1972,
5 reels. Available for reference.
The Niue births, deaths and
marriage registers microfilmed by the Bureau were transferred from the
Huanaki
Museum and Cultural Centre to the Department of Justice, Lands and
Survey
before Cyclone Heta hit Niue in January 2004. There is no indication
that these
documents were microfilmed by the Latter Day Saints which have made the
following microfilms in Niue: LDS file Nos.1886315-323 – Births,
1900-1994; LDS
file Nos.1886324-329 – Deaths, 1899-1994;
LDS file Nos.1886330-335 – Statistical cards; LDS file
Nos.1886336-338 –
Genealogies; LDS file Nos.1886339-341 – Maternal cards; LDS file
Nos.1886342-347 – Statistical cards.
CONTENTS:
Register
of Births [Europeans], Mar 1910-Mar
1915;
Register
of Marriages [Europeans], Sep 1910-1916;
Register
of Marriages [Niueans] Nos.1-291,
Apr 1910-Mar 1916;
Register
of Deaths [Niueans] Nos.1-521, and
4-110, etc., Apr 1910-Jan 1917.
Index
to Register of Marriages, Vols.1 &
2, 1900-1980.
Marriage
Register (Civil), Nos.151-412,
c.1900-10.
Koe
Tohi Fakamau (Civil), Nos.19-628,
275-510, 1923-1972.
Copy
of Marriage Register (Church),
Nos.1-1444, May 1916-Aug 1916.
See Reel List for details.
PMB
1242 GOVERNMENT OF NIUE, Justice, Lands
and Survey Department, Land Titling Project Reports, 1968, 1994-1999
1
reel, Available for reference.
J.M. McEwen’s
report in 1968 indicated that land tenure system in Niue was already
under
strain. He pointed out that customary Niuean land tenure consists of
“family
ownership, with an appointed family head, and undistributed rights of
occupation which pass by descent. Ownership is fluid, in that rights
can be
lost by continued absence of owners from the land. Rights of occupation
may
also be lost in the same way. The system is essentially practical in
that it
enables the land to be worked by individual owners without interference
from
co-owners.” Niuean customary tenure was opposed to individualised
freehold
titles registered under the Niue Act 1966, derived from the New Zealand
Maori
Land Act.
CONTENTS
·
Niue Land Titling Project. A
Mid-term Review,
Apr 1994.
·
Niue Land Titling Project: Stage
Two Project:
Document, n.d.
·
Interim Report of the A.C.T.
Crown Lease
Consultancy, 1995
·
Niue Land Titling Project.
Questions and
Answers about the Land Titling Project, Mar 1996
·
Report. Niue Delegation Tour in
New Zealand
for Land Titling Project, 20 March-2 April 1996;
·
Report of Constitutional Review
Committee,
Jun 1997; 19pp.
·
Proposal for a Consultancy to
Review the Land
Titling and Forestry Projects in Nuie, Sep 1997;
·
Terms of Reference: Review of
Land Titling
Project, Oct 1997
·
Review of Land Titling Project,
Mar 1998;
Ts., draft, 59pp.
·
Opportunities for Land Investment
in Niue:
Creation of a Land Economy, 4 Aug 1998.
·
Review of the Niue Land Titling
Project.
Final Report, Jun 1999.
·
Report on Land Tenure in Niue.
Presented to
the House of Representatives, 1968.
See Reel List for details.
