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Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
Telephone: (61) (2) 6125 2521 Fax: (61) (2) 6125 0198
E-mail: pambu@coombs.anu.edu.au
Series 5, No.9
November 1999
On the latest trip, in August, manuscripts held in the Fiji Museum Library were microfilmed in Suva, and the personal papers of A. D. Patel were arranged and filmed in Nadi. Patel was a distinguished Indian leader and Fiji's first leader of the opposition.
There was time in between the microfilming in Fiji to attend the very successful conference of the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives in Suva. Representatives of archival institutions in 15 Pacific Island nations (excluding NZ and Australia) participated in the conference, attesting to the growing strength of archival infrastructure of Oceania.
In Tarawa, archives of the Kiribati Islands Overseas Seamens Union were arranged and microfilmed at the Union's office in Betio, and house diaries and historical accounts written by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, together with the Catholic mission's newsletter, Ti Itoi Ni Kiribati, were microfilmed at Teaoraereke. The journal of Tatai of Nui Island, Tuvalu, belonging to his great grandson, Mr Tapetula Merang, was also microfilmed in Tarawa.
The point of this busy microfilming is to make sure that copies of the records which document important aspects of the heritage of Pacific Islanders survive well into the next millenium. This preservation work would not be possible without cooperation between the Bureau and the institutions and individuals who have custody of the original documents. The cooperation is based on an appreciation of the importance of the documents for the tales they tell and the treasures they hold.
Apart from institutional cooperation, the work of the Bureau is dependent on the kindness and hospitality of people such as Pat Jackson and Craig Gallagher who gave me board and accommodation at the "AusAID Palace" in Tarawa.
Ewan Maidment
PMB Executive Officer
With the invaluable help of Peter Raftos, RSPAS IT Consultant, the Bureau's database of Manuscript Series and Printed Document Series microfilm titles is being revised for improved Web access to meet the demands of researchers. It is expected to launch the database on the Web before the end of the year.
The papers of Sir Colin Allan were transferred from Auckland to the PMB in May. The Centre for the Contemporary Pacific in RSPAS is able to provide facilities for the permanent retention of the papers in accordance with Lady Allan's preference for them to be held at the ANU. The papers (18 cartons) are being held temporarily by the PMB for arrangement and microfilming and will be transferred to the CCP in due course.
The Bureau has microfilmed a full set of the written and verbal submissions to the Fiji Constitution Review Commission, 1996-1997. The originals are held by Professor Brij Lal who was a Commissioner on the Review.
Dr Margaret Spencer, an entomologist whose association with Papua New Guinea public health extended over 25 years from 1953, lent the Bureau some of her personal papers for microfilming. Margaret Spencer and her husband, Dr Terry Spencer, travelled extensively throughout PNG studying many aspects of malaria. Mrs Spencer is the only woman entomologist to have worked extensively in the field studying the biology, behaviour and age-grouping of the malaria carrying mosquitoes of PNG. The papers include diaries and correspondence from Dr Spencer's time at the Minj Malaria School, 1954-1955. The original papers will be transferred to the National Library of Australia for permanent retention when the microfilming is completed.
Dr Peter Sack, who was Senior Fellow in Law, Research School of Social Sciences, ANU, from 1957 till his retirement last year, has allowed the PMB to microfilm his research papers documenting customary law in PNG. These papers were compiled by Dr Sack in the 1960s and 1970s. They document descent, land ownership systems and cultural patterns of inheritance and ownership which effect land tenure. They refer, not just to customary land tenure issues, but to land alienation during the German colonial period and subsequent restoration to indigenous customary owners. Dr Sack's mongraph, Land Between Two Laws: early European land acquisitions in New Guinea, ANU Press, 1973, is based on these research papers.
With the permission of Reg McAlister, the General Secretary of the PNG Maritime Workers Industrial Union, papers of the Union which were on loan to Michael Hess in the National Centre for Development Studies at the ANU, were transferred to the Bureau for arrangement and microfilming. The papers, which consist of minutes of the Management Committee and National Council of the Union and its press releases, 1985-1997, have now been microfilmed and returned to the Union.
The South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions and the Pacific Program of the Commonwealth Council of Trade unions wound up their offices in Brisbane in December. The PMB helped organise the transfer of the bulk of their archives to the Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the ANU where they have been box listed. Selected parts of their records are to be microfilmed by the Bureau.
In January Scott MacWilliam transferred his collection of the PNG Coffee Board and Cocoa Board reports and related published and semi-published papers for arrangement (3 cartons). The Coffee Board reports will be interesting to set along side the archives which we are arranging in Goroka. We are not able to determine at this stage whether any of this material is suitable for microfilming.
Papers of Sir Albert Maori Kiki, which the Bureau microfilmed last year, were returned to Port Moresby in March and are now lodged in the New Guinea Collection at the Michael Somare Library at the UPNG.
Some papers of the late Dr Bill Coppell were transferred to the Bureau for arrangement and listing during the year. Dr Coppell was a distinguished educator, bibliographer and indexer. He was Deputy and then acting Director of Education in the Cook Islands from 1962-1967. The papers include unpublished bibliographies of the Cook Islands and Norfolk Island. The Norfolk Island bibliography is in electronic form and can be made available to any reader wishing to have a copy.
The third set of Pacific Islands languages Scriptures collected from the Bible Society by Peter Morris was transferred to the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. The Library selected a few items to fill gaps in their holdings, the remainder was then sent on to the Macmillan Brown Library at the University of Canterbury.
Mr Frank Miller, of Bribie Island, has lent the Bureau two albums, compiled by his father, Jack (J. R.) Miller, documenting life on Banaba (Ocean Island) before the War. J. R. Miller was Foreman of Works on Banaba until he retired in 1939. He designed and built the Alexandra Theatre on Banaba and also took part in the performances. One album holds 274 photographs of Banabans, Europeans and the phosphate works and the other holds a collection of theatre, dance and sports programmes, 1908-1939. After the War J. R. Miller brought back many films and showed them in Nauru and Kiribati. He was the first licensee of the film theatre on Nauru, then powered by a pedal generator.
A small but interesting group of files on the Australian School of Pacific Administration and its successor, the International Training Institute, were recently transferred from the AusAID Library to the Bureau. The papers which date from 1946, deal with School policy, structural reviews, recruitment and training of cadet Education and Patrol Officers for PNG, and many other matters. The records may be of some interest to researchers when arranged in a proper order.
Mr Pip Lawson of Mombasa Gallery Restaurant in Brisbane graciously consented to have more than 40 Burns Philp ledgers in his custody transferred to the Bureau. Professor Clive Moore, of the University of Queensland, sighted the records at Mombasa and negotiated permission for the transfer. He wrote, "They are only fragments from the much larger set of records...largely from Fiji. Some of them look very useful: particularly the individual accounts of people in Fiji in the 1930s; you could get a good idea of commerce during the Depression from them." The records are now being assessed against other record series of Burns Philp (South Sea) Co Ltd in the Burns Philp archive in the Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the ANU.
Dr Klaus Neumann, now based in Auckland, informed the Bureau that he has donated a couple of boxes of material about the 1994 volcanic eruptions in Rabaul to the Library of the Australian Geological Survey Organisation. Most of this material consists of about 2000 essays written by community and high school students about the eruptions. The material should now be accessible through the AGSO Library. For further information, contact Dr Wally Johnson (wjohnson@bmr.gov.au).
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Nancy White was an Australian missionary in Oro (Northern) Provence in Papua New Guinea from 1948 until 1967. Working in difficult circumstances she established and expanded Anglican schools and health services in isolated bush locations.
During this time she kept detailed diaries, wrote many letters, and sent a regular Newsletter to "Friends" in Australia. The diaries, Newsletters and some surviving correspondence are held by the Australian Board of Mission, 31 Bathurst St., Sydney. The diaries cover the period from 30 July 1949 to 1 March 1968, except for the times when she was on leave in Melbourne. The letters are mainly those written to her mother presumably kept by her and subsequently returned to Nancy. The Newsletters include some of the material in the diaries and letters. The papers contain valuable social and cultural comment and are a significant record of mission life. Nancy White died in Victoria in 1997.
Ann Turner
Canberra, April 1999
Compiled by Ian Nocholson Volume 3, with some 8,000 more references to voyage logs, diaries and narratives, was published in May. The price of the softback edition is AU$50, plus postage. A limited number of hardback copies were available for AU$65. Orders may be send to I. H. & B. M. Nicholson, 18 Wunnunga Cres., Yaroomba, QLD, 4573, Australia. |
South Sea Evangelical Mission Archives
The Mission was established as the Queensland Kanaka Mission on Fairymead Plantation near Bundaberg by Florence Young and her family in 1886. Its first station in the Solomon Islands was set up in Malaita in 1904 after the cessation of the labour trade to Queensland. The mission's fields were extended to Guadalcanal, Makira and Rennell Island in the Solomons and, after World War II, to the Sepik Region in PNG.
In 1997 the SSEM archives were transferred from its training centre in Laurieton, NSW, to the Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity at Menzies College, Macquarie University, Sydney. It is a very rich, though somewhat disordered, archive holding detailed documentation of the activities of the Mission, including baptismal registers, some mission station reports, and the diaries and correspondence of many of the missionaries, including Florence Young, the founder. The archives also include many photographs, mainly from Malaita and some well documented 16mm movie film mainly from New Guinea in the 1950s.
The Bureau has recently microfilmed the main serials published by the Mission: Not in Vain, 1887-1987; Despatches from the SSEM (previously published as Prayer Notes), 1932-1956; and Solomons Soldiers News (a bi-monthly children's newspaper), 1945-1966.
The Bureau has also commenced microfilming pre-World War II correspondence of Mission; mainly consisting of missionaries' reports, letters and circular letters addressed to the Chair of the Mission, other missionaries, relatives and supporters of the Mission. Copies of the calendars of much of this correspondence have been obtained for incorporation in the PMB's reel lists. Very few of the Chairman's letters-out to the missionaries sent before 1942 appear to have survived.
The microfilming project is far from complete. Some pre-War archives are still to be microfilmed, including correspondence, baptismal registers and manuscripts. There is also a massive amount of post-War material for arrangement and filming, including many photographs. A detailed survey list of the whole archive is available from the Bureau should researchers be interested.
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Japanese Government Reports to the League of Nations on its South Sea Islands Mandates
Professor Laurie Barber of Waikato University in Hamilton, NZ, had made an inquiry regarding these reports. The PMB has microfilmed reports to the League of Nations by the Australian Government on Nauru (PMB Doc 258-260, 1914-1968) and New Guinea (PMB Doc 315, 1914-1940), but had not microfilmed the Japanese reports. The NZ Government reports on Samoa are in the NZ Parliamentary Papers. Copies of the Japanese reports were located in the State Library of NSW on the advice of Dr Peter Orlovich.
Japanese reports, which cover the period 1921-1937, were submitted to the Council of the League of Nations in accordance with Article 22 of the Covenant and examined by the Permanent Mandates Commission. The reports are in English and cover the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands and Ladrone island. They deal with general administration, finances, education, industry, navigation and trade. They include population statistics, laws and regulations, photographs and maps.
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Archives in the Noser Memorial Library, Divine Word University, Madang, PNG
The Bureau surveyed the Noser Archives held in the Noser Memorial Library at the Divine Word University in March. It was the first stage of a project initiated by Dr Rod Lacey of the Catholic University at Ballarat, Victoria.
The Noser Memorial Library is reputed to rank as one of the five best collections of New Guineana in the country; along with the National Library, the New Guinea Collection at the UPNG Library, the Matheson Library of the PNG University of Technology at Lae and the Administration College Library at Waigani. According to the Library's publicity leaflet, the books provide "anthropological, historical, linguistic, folkloric, religious and even fictional materials about PNG". They include German and Australian colonial administration reports, PNG government publications, UPNG editions and educational and other materials in Tok Pisin. The Library is exceptionally strong in its German language ethnographic and colonial publications.
The Noser Memorial Library was started in the early 1970s by Father Michael Morrison (1927-1984) in honour of Bishop Noser who was Bishop, then Archbishop, of Madang from 1953 till his retirement in 1975. Father Morrison is reputed to have gathered books and manuscripts from presbytery shelves and mission stations. During the early 1980s Fr. Basil Aerni became the curator of the collection and expanded its German materials. In 1985 Bishop Leo Arkfield of Madang approved the transfer of the collection to the campus of the DWU. Over roughly the same period Fr. J. J. Tschauder gathered a separate collection of publications and archives, known as the Eberhard Limbrock Memorial Library. (Fr. Limbrock was the leader of the first Divine Word Missionaries in New Guinea.) Originally located at the Archdiocesan Headquarters in Madang, the Limbrock Memorial Library has now been incorporated in the Noser Collection. Parts of it may also have been transferred to the Divine Word Mission (SVD) archives held in the Provincial House in Hagen.
The established holdings of the Noser Memorial Library consist of approximately 4,000 catalogued books, plus serials, maps, archives and, possibly, some sound recordings. They have been catalogued on the University Library's "Bookmark Data Entry" cataloguing system. The catalogue entries are accessible to all users of the University Library's catalogue.
Apart from the catalogued books, there are two large collections of books being integrated into the Noser Memorial Library. One collection consists of about 20 cartons of publications, mainly on linguistics and folklore, from the library of Fr John A. Z'Graggen who researched oral history, folklore and linguistics in the Madang Province before returning to Switzerland a few years ago. Word lists complied by Fr Z'Graggen are reputed to be in the Library, but were not sighted. An even bigger collection for integration into the Noser Library consists of 57 cartons of the books of the late Fr. John Tschauder.
The "Noser Archives" is a research collection of subject files on various aspects of PNG society, but focusing on Madang, Morobe, the Sepik and the Highlands Provinces and the Divine Word Mission's operations and personnel in those areas. It is a closed system, compiled in the 1970s and 1980s, consisting of 705 file titles. The files, held in four 4-drawer filing cabinets in the Noser Memorial Library, are arranged alphabetically by title. In some cases a subject file may be comprised of four or more folders. Several documents may be held in each folder. The subject files, including each of the folders, are bar coded and catalogued in the DWU Library catalogue, which lists (or calendars) the titles of the main documents in each folder, however the list is not necessarily exhaustive. This list is available in electronic form from the Library and the PMB.
Many of the archives files hold published material and semi-published "grey literature", including journal articles, roneoed papers, press cuttings, pamphlets and leaflets. Most of the material of this type dates from the 1970s and 1980s. They amount to an arbitrary collection of material on particular subjects, such as agriculture, elections, labour policy and vocational training. Some of the files, however, hold far more substantial collections of published, semi-published, ephemeral and unpublished material. For example, the files on cargo movements in Madang and Morobe include rare published material and some original documents gathered from local sources.
The files on the Divine Worrd Mission in PNG are the most substantial element of the Noser Archives. They include:
A proper assessment of the importance of the Noser Archives would require a comparison with the SVD archives held in the Provincial House in Mt Hagen, but no detailed information on that archives is available. It is also quite likely that good archives are held by the Holy Spirit Sisters at their Seminary in Bomana. Apart from the one volume of Bishop Noser's circulars, refered to above, only very recent non-current records are held in the Archdiocesan Administration Centre in Madang. A further Catholic archive has been established at Wabag in Enga by Fr Doug Young and others which may also hold related material. Fr Geoff Brumm, an SVD missionary in Wewak, also has a collection of documents relating to that Province which includes the Wewak Catholic newsletter, Passer Solitarius.
The papers of Fr John J. Tschauder are also held in the Noser Memorial Library. Fr Tschauder was with the SVD in New Guinea from before the War till his death in 1996. The Tschauder Papers are not in any strong order and will require some time to arrange and list, but will repay the effort. The Bureau was able to make a detailed survey of only 15 of the 32 cartons.
The papers include massive amounts of Fr Tschauder's translations from German texts to English, all typed, and many annotated and indexed. Fr Tschauder systematically translated articles referring to New Guinea in the SVD's Styler Missionsbote, 1899-1939. He also translated selected articles in the Styler Chronik and other SVD published sources, including a "History of SVD in New Guinea" (96pp) published in the Kleiner Herz-Jesu-Bote. The translations of these official records are complemented by translations of private papers and reminiscences of SVD missionaries in New Guinea:
Fr Tschauder's translations of anthropological works held in the 15 cartons sorted so far, include:
The Tschauder Papers also include extensive translations of the German colonial administration's official reports relating to New Guinea, such as the report by Janke to the Commanding Admiral, Berlin, on the German Protectorate in New Guinea, 12 Dec 1896 (118pp), and the report of the Commander of HM Cruiser Möwe about an attack on a survey party and subsequent punishment of the people of Aly Island, Berlinhafen, 13 Apr 1897 (14pp). Some laws applying to German protectorates and several articles in Deutsches Kolonialzeitung and the Deutsches Kolonialblatt are also translated as well as the annual reports of the government of German New Guinea, 1900-1911 (cf. Peter Sack and Dymphna Clark's translation).
Documents regarding acquisitions of land and land properties in German New Guinea, individual cases, 1891-1901, held in the Reichs-Archiv, Reichskolonialamt, are also translated (100pp+). These include: material on the distribution of land properties in NE of Gazelle Peninsula, 1891; cases relating to land properties of the New Guinea Company, Sacred Heart Mission and other Mission Societies; and cases re land properties of Mrs Kolbe (Queen Emma), Mr Parkinson and the South Sea Studies Institute.
Fr Tschauder also collected various articles on the capture German New Guinea in 1914, and translated Wendland's, Im Wonderlan der Papua, Chapter 26, an eyewitness account of the Australian occupation of Rabaul in 1914.
The Tschauder Papers include quite a few documents relating to the capture and subsequent experiences of the SVD and other missionaries during World War II. These include: the memoirs of Br Gerloch Eder (18pp); Rev William Hagen's, Treatment by the Japanese (24pp) and The complete story of the strafing of missionaries by allied planes (24pp); Fr Tschauder's own note, I discussed religious problems under a Japanese mosquito-net, 8 Apr 1945 (14pp); Fr Mike Clerkin's letter reporting on War time experiences, 20 Oct 1944 (3pp); Fr. Richard Novack, Meine Erlebnisse im japanischen Kreige in Neuguinea, 1942-44 (17pp); and an untitled transcript of an interview re ill-treatment of Sisters by Japanese, n.d. (8pp).
Finally, the Tschauder Papers include his own correspondence, from 1937, possibly some of his war time diaries, his more recent diaries, 1965-1996, and copies of some of his own histories: History of the Catholic Church in the Solomon Islands, 1845-1945 (24pp). History of the Church in Papua, 1884-1892, 1970 (18pp). The Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea, 1945-1975, 1976 (8pp). The History of the Non-Catholic Churches in Melanesia, n.d. (16pp). The First Native Clergy in Oceania, n.d. (6pp). Ein einheimischer Klerus für Papua Neu Guinea, 1987 [on indigenous clergy] (30pp). From the Galleons to Steamships: a brief political history of the Pacific (18pp).
Although there is no curator in the Noser Library, the University Librarian and academic staff take a protective interest through the University's Library Committee. Fr Frank Mihalic, who has just completed his Readings in PNG Mission History (and is looking for a publisher), is an habitual user of the Library. Frs Douglas Young and Patrick Gesch oversee the preservation of its holdings and are encouraging its development. Fr Jan Czuba, the University President, has plans to develop the research functions of the University and sees the preservation and development of the resources of the Noser Library as pivotal to this plan.
Mr Hugo Stibbe of the National Archives of Canada is currently talking to DWU authorities about the possibility of working, voluntarily, at the Noser Library as a post-retirement project, beginning next year. His aim would be to bring greater order to the archival holdings. If Mr Stibbe takes on the position as the DWU Archivist, any future PMB work at the DWU, including selection of material for microfilming, would be done in consultation with him.
Ewan Maidment>
| Masked Eden: a History of Australians in
New Guinea by Anne McCosker "The book recounts a story of love and beauty, gallantry, courage and betrayal", Ms McCosker has said. "The fall of Rabaul to the Japanese in 1942 - when over 1000 Australian civilians and soldiers were tragically lost - is for the first time fully examined in the book, using original material from archives and from our family papers." Available from Matala Press, PO Box 829, Maleny QLD 4552, Australia: AU$57 plus postage. |
A major advance for Micronesian anthropology has been made with the discovery of a 300 page manuscript detailing Pohnpeian ethnomedicine, magic, legend and feasting traditions. The manuscript was donated to Andrew Scourse, te Micronesia Center, during his recent research trip to Pohnpei, while living with the family of a royal member of the Sounpwok clan. The manuscript, in 2 books, was compiled over a 20 year period and was contributed to extensively by the late Moses Hadley, a previous Nahnmwarki (king) of Madolenihmw municipality, as well as many of the most prominent medicine men of Pohnpei.
The first book, handwritten in Pohnpeian, includes sections on honorific vocabulary, legends, the duties of 'Sohpeidi' title holder, etiquette, extensive ethnomedicine (479 remedies), including both spells, herbal, and other medicinal cures and magical spells for many uses, both malevolent and benevolent.
The second book, typed in Pohnpeian, was written over a shorter period during the late 1970s by a group of families, and involved the informant from the Sounpwok clan. It has sections on the beginning of Pohnpei, the structure of the local sociopolitical hierachy, traditional Pohnpeian land tenure, honorific vocabulary and speech, ancient proverbs and sayings, different kinds of houses, the story of the first division of Pohnpei to separate kingdoms, the complex Pohnpeian counting system, locally important land and sea features, highly detailed commentary of Pohnpeian feasting tradition and ritual, the clans of Pohnpei, different types of canoe and their parts (in great detail), the Pohnpeian calendar and clock (in detail), and the local sealife, fauna and flora.
This manuscript clearly has the potential to change the face of Micronesian anthropology, as well as being a most valuable contribution to the fields of medical anthropology and nautical archaeology. An authority in the field has described it as 'the find of the decade'; this seems particularly apt not only because of the size of the manuscript, but also the diversity of writing.
Noting there is immense research material present, The Micronesia Center is now keen to form a small team to undertake the translation of the manuscript, expressions of interest in this matter are welcomed, and these may be sent to the contact address below.
Andrew Scourse
The Micronesia Center
(http://www.micronesia-center.com/)
15 August 1999
Index to South Pacific Conference Records, PMB Doc 400
During 1987-1989, as the Bureau's then Executive Officer, I arranged filming and distribution of South Pacific Conference and related records for the period 1947 to 1987, representing the first forty years of the life of the region's first intergovernmental organisation, the South Pacific Commission, now known as the Pacific Community. The project resulted in 20 reels of 16mm microfilm, with inventories providing the reel number, film number, title and date of each conference or meeting.
During 1987-1989, as the Bureau's then Executive Officer, I arranged filming and distribution of South Pacific Conference and related records for the period 1947 to 1987, representing the first forty years of the life of the region's first intergovernmental organisation, the South Pacific Commission, now known as the Pacific Community. The project resulted in 20 reels of 16mm microfilm, with inventories providing the reel number, film number, title and date of each conference or meeting.
Lack of an index to individual papers severely reduced the accessibility and usefulness of this material. Although prospective donor agencies acknowledged the potential value of an index, high reproduction and distribution costs made it unviable. Following my retirement from the Bureau, the Pacific Community Library and I continued a ten-year effort to find funds. During this time, advances in electronic database technology lessened the necessity to produce and distribute printed indexes and bibliographies, while facilitating updating of material, use of a wider range of search strategies, electronic publication, and/ or printing on demand. This entailed reduction in costs and enabled the Community itself to fund a project aiming to produce for the Pacific Community Library an electronic database index to the South Pacific Conference and related documents for the period 1947-1987, plus one printed copy of the master reference list and associated documentation.
I am pleased to say that I have completed and delivered to the Pacific Community the complete index package. The Pacific Community is now able to trace decisions and the reasons for these; to compare the results of current and past programmes and projects throughout the region; to locate biographical data for regional policy makers, and to note the relationships between governments and the development of national and international organisations. The index therefore reveals the everyday practical applications of the Conference papers to regional and national decision making and their contribution to regional development history.
My purpose is simply to inform the Bureau of the successful conclusion of a long-term project with which the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau was originally connected. As it is now for the Community to decide whether, to what extent and how to make the index available to potential users, any enquiries about its availability should be directed to the Community (Director General/ Pacific Community, PO Box D5, Nouma Cedex, New Caledonia).
Bess Flores
Adelaide, Dec 1998
Archives of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Vanuatu
This project was designed with the cooperation and involvement of the School of Law at the University of the South Pacific, Emalus Campus, Port Vila and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Vanuatu. The Bureau is grateful for the cooperation of Chief Justice Vincent Lunabek, Mrs Rita Naviti, the Registrar, Ms Lyn Zinenko, the CJ's Associate, and Professor Don Paterson and Peter Murgatroyd of the USP.
The aim was to locate, survey and microfilm judgements held in the Supreme Court of Vanuatu, including judgements from its predecessor, the Joint Court of the New Hebrides.
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Vanuatu was established with the country's independence on 30 July 1980. It is the direct successor court to the Joint Court of the New Hebrides (1906-1978) and the Supreme Court of the New Hebrides (1978-1980). The Joint Court of the New Hebrides had civil and criminal jurisdiction as defined by the Anglo-French Protocol of 1914. The protocol strengthened the Anglo-French Convention of 1906, which was responsible for establishing the Condominium of the New Hebrides. In accordance with Article 12 of the Protocol, the Joint Court of the New Hebrides had civil and criminal jurisdiction over indigenous New Hebrideans (ni-Vanuatu, referred to as "Natives" in the Protocol), matters involving New Hebrideans and British and/or French citizens, or those individuals of other nationality who opted to come under British or French jurisdiction ("optants"), and in matters between French and British citizens. The Joint Court had one British and one French judge with a President who was technically appointed by the King of Spain, although this latter practice was not observed from the 1930s.
In accordance with article 20 of the Protocol, the two Government's also established their own National Courts. Each had jurisdiction in civil cases not admissible to the Joint Court and in criminal cases where the defendant or the plaintiff were of the same nationality as the Court. Where a case involved British jurisdiction, the Superior Court from 1914-1961 was the High Commission of the Western Pacific. In 1961, this was replaced by the High Court of the Western Pacific which had a judge based in the New Hebrides who was simultaneously the British appointed member of the Joint Court. In 1975 the High Court of the New Hebrides was established, superseding the High Court of the Western Pacific. In all three cases, right of appeal lay with the High Court of Fiji.
There were two French Courts. The first was the Cour de Justice de Paix a Competence Etendue, which had unlimited civil and limited criminal jurisdiction over French citizens in the New Hebrides. Appeals could be lodged with the Cour d'Appel in Noumea. The second French court was the Tribunal Ciminel, which was composed of three judges and two citizens, having unlimited criminal jurisdiction over French citizens and optants. Right of appeal lay with the Cour de Cassation in Paris.
In summary then, the Joint Court of the New Hebrides had criminal and civil jurisdiction over the following:
The Joint Court also heard appeal cases from Courts of the First Instance and Native Courts.
Contemporaneously, each of the two governing powers had their own courts with jurisdiction only in cases involving their own citizens and optants. Thus there were three legal systems in the New Hebrides prior to independence; French, British and Condominium. The Supreme Court of the Republic Vanuatu replaced these three legal systems with a single superior court system upon independence in 1980, assuming singular responsibility for the judicial functions previously exercised by the Joint Court, the High Court of the Western Pacific/High Court of the New Hebrides and the Cour de Justice de paix a Competence Etendue/The Tribunal Criminel. However, Condominium laws (Joint Regulations), French laws (decrees of France issued for New Caledonia, including the New Hebrides) and British laws (Queens Regulations) continue to have legal standing where they were not revoked or replaced by the Vanuatu Parliament and where they are not considered incompatible with the Constitution or the independence of Vanuatu as a sovereign nation-state. In other words, Vanuatu has inherited metropolitan and colonial French and British laws and combined these with its own.
The Vanuatu Supreme Court has two main repositories for its holdings. The first is the Supreme Court Library which contains published law reports, law journals, Queens Regulations, Joint Regulations, a complete set of the laws of the republic, published Vanuatu law reports (including Judgements) from 1980 and other secondary source material which has been, or is in the process of being digitally catalogued. There is little in the way of primary source material in the library, and what is available has only been digitally catalogued to a limited extent. The library is in relatively good order, secure and safe, and has continuous and effective air conditioning. The library is managed by one full time librarian.
The second repository (referred to as the Supreme Court Archives) of Supreme Court material consists of a single story concrete slab building adjacent to the Department of Mines, Water and Geological Services. Unlike the library it is not located in the actual Supreme Court building, but shares the same building as the Island Court. Apart from being located in the Island Court building, they share no common room space - a thick concrete wall separates the Island Court from the Archives. There is one front entry into the Archives, and this consists of a secure iron door, with access restricted to Court Staff and visitors who require authorisation from the Chief Registrar in order to use the Archives. The Archives is divided into two moderately sized rooms, with no windows, except for the second room which has a small barred opening at the top of the wall directly below the ceiling. The Archives building appears strong and durable. I could not detect any leaking areas in the two archival rooms. Humidity in the Archives is controlled and reduced by one continuously operating air-conditioning unit in the main front room. The archives were originally managed by a Court Archivist, although this position has been vacant for some years now. The Archives currently has no on-site court employee. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Vanuatu has delegated responsibility to the Chief Registrar of the Court and her staff. The Archives is used frequently by court registry staff because recent case files and Judgements from the Magistrates and the Island Courts are filed in the main room of the Archives premises.
The archives has extensive holdings of unlisted and uncatalogued primary, and some secondary source materials. These include a set of the Journal Officel de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et Dépendences (Decrees and laws of France issued for New Caledonia and extended to the New Hebrides, 1937-1973), Joint regulations, judgements of the Native Court and Magistrates Court, case files and some judgements from the High Court of the Western Pacific, Condominium Gazettes, deceased estates (British), court administrative records and correspondence.
There were 11 bound (in spiral folders) volumes of unreported and unpublished judgements issued by the Joint Court of the New Hebrides from 1911-1976, including the 11th volume which contains Judgements on Appeal from 1911-1976. These judgements, along with other important court papers, have now been transferred to the safe custody of the Supreme Court Library. Judgements of the Supreme Court from 1980 to the present are currently maintained in individual case files in the main room of the Court Archives. On the far left hand corner of the main room in the archives building are 80 numbered metal filing units containing case files, court administrative records, condominium gazettes, police files and court correspondence. In filing units 29-37 are Joint Court and Supreme Court (of the New Hebrides) Judgements from 1977-1980, but again many Judgements are missing from individual case files. Joint and Supreme Court judgements 1977-1980 were only found after the judgements 1911-1976 had been calendered, two days before microfilming was completed. In 1994/1995 Ridgeway Blake Lawyers (at the time the Clayton Utz office in Vila) selected various judgements from 1980-1994 and compiled and published these as Vanuatu's first ever Law Reports.
Judgements 1911-1976 largely concern criminal and civil cases. There were also some land matters which were taken before the Joint Court, and these follow in judgement and case number sequence, the criminal and civil judgements of the Joint Court.
In summary then, the most complete record groups which are held in the Supreme Court of Vanuatu include the following:
The above only includes complete or near-complete record groups, and excludes a large number of miscellaneous papers, not filed in any particular order or kept in any one location. These papers were not designated for microfilming as it was important for the PMB to concentrate on locating, retrieving and filming judgements of the Joint Court. However, it should be noted that these miscellaneous papers do hold a wealth of interesting and important historical material for Vanuatu.
Greg Rawlings
PMB Executive Assistant
August 1999
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Archives of the Coffee Industry Corporation, PNG
While in PNG in March this year the Bureau also surveyed and arranged the archives of the CIC and microfilmed part of them. This project was initiated by Scott MacWilliam who is now teaching History and Politics at the University of the South Pacific.
The PNG Coffee Marketing Board was formed in May 1964 under the Coffee Marketing Board Ordinance, 1963. That Act was amended many times to suit the requirements of the industry and finally superseded by the Coffee Industry Act, 1976, under which the Coffee Industry Board was established in March 1977. The main function of the Board was to control and regulate the production, processing, marketing and export of coffee grown in PNG.
In January 1987 the CIB was split into three autonomous bodies:
These three bodies were re-united into a single body by the formation of the Coffee Industry Corporation in October 1990. The Corporation now consists of four Divisions all under the authority of the CIC's Board of Management:
The CIC not only keeps records required for legal accountability but also has retained records documenting the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea for historical and publicity purposes. The PMB survey confirmed that many records have been retained by the Corporation. The main series of minute books, which are regarded as precious documents, are kept securely. Other records have been transferred into a repository where they are stored in cartons arranged by provenance and series. Further records are held in secondary storage; most of these are not in good order.
During the visit an interesting series of controlled subject files was reconstructed, listed and shelved in the CIC Archives Repository. This subject filing system was operating from the formation of the Coffee Marketing Board till its restructure in 1987. No original register or file index of the series was located, however a list was compiled directly from the files.
Six rolls of microfilm were made during the visit, including papers of Ian Downs and the Highland Farmers' and Settlers' Association documenting the beginning of the coffee industry in PNG:
Ewan Maidment
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The Making of a Rebel: Captain Donald Macleod of the New
Hebrides Not just a biography of a notable sea captain, but also a history of the Condominium, the English and the French governments, shipping services, companies, the labour trade, plantations, the missions and the relations between ni-Vanuatu and the newcomers. Available from the Institute of Pacific Studies, USP, PO Box 1168, Suva: F$45 within the USP region; US$45 beyond the USP region, includes seafreight. |
Recent Pambu Microfilm Titles: Manucripts and Printed
Document Series
| PMB 1141 | PNG COFFEE INDUSTRY CORPORATION: archives, 1957-1985. Reels 1-6. (Access under negotiation.) | PMB 1142 | THURSTON, Sir John Bates: correspondence with his sister, Eliza Thurston, and related family papers and photographs, 1880-1896. Reels 1-2. (Available for reference.) (Restricted access.) |
| PMB 1143 | WATKINS, Alwyn Edward (1908-1988): Papuan patrol reports, 1933-1935. 1 reel. (Available for reference.) | PMB 1144 | LANGLEY, Doreen (1920-1998): papers relating to her nutrition surveys in PNG, Fiji, Tonga and Niue, together with other South Pacific Health Service reports, by Susan Holmes, on nutrition surveys in Samoa, Cook Islands, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, 1947-1954. Reels 1-2. (Available for reference.) |
| PMB 1145 | SUPREME COURT OF VANUATU: judgements. 7 reels. (Available for reference.) | PMB 1146 | SPENCER, Margaret: Papua New Guinea Papers, 1951-1998. In progress. |
| PMB 1147 | SACK, Peter: research papers on PNG customary law, compiled 1960s-1970s.1 reel. (Available for reference.) | PMB 1148 | PAPUA NEW GUINEA MARITIME WORKERS INDUSTRIAL UNION: minutes, press releases and related papers, 1985-1997. 2 reels. (Available for reference.) |
| PMB 1149 | FIJI CONSTITUTION REVIEW COMMISSION: copies of written submissions, Vols. 1-8, and verbatim notes, Jul 1995- Jan 1996. 8 reels. (Available for reference.) | PMB 1150 | SOUTH SEA EVANGELICAL MISSION, formerly Queensland Kanaka Mission: archives. 1890-1960. 5 reels. (Available for reference.) |
| PMB 1151 | WOODWARD, Keith. Historical Summary of Constitutional Advance in the New Hebrides, 1954-1977. 1978. 1 reel. (Available for reference.) | PMB 1152 | PATEL, A. D.: personal papers, 1936-1970. 3 reels. (Restricted access.) |
| PMB 1153 | FIJI MUSEUM: manuscripts collection. 5 reels. (Restricted access.) | PMB 1154 | KIRIBATI OVERSEAS SEAMENS UNION:archives, 1974-1996. 2 reels. (Available for reference.) |
| PMB 1155 | CONGREGATION OF THE DAUGHTERS OF OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART, KIRIBATI: house diaries and historical accounts. 1921-1967. 1 reel. (Available for reference.) | PMB 1156 | TATAI OF NUI, TUVALU: journal. 1 reel. (Restricted access.) |
| PMB 1157 | MILLER, Frank (1920- ): photographs and theatre programmes, Banaba, 1909-1939. 1 reel. (Available for reference.) | PMB Doc 439 | NOT IN VAIN. (Queensland Kanaka Mission and the South Sea Evangelical Mission, Sydney and Brisbane). Includes annual reports, financial statements and SSEM Letters. Early issues published as Not in Vain: What God hath wrought amongst the Kanakas in Queensland. Nos 1-264, 1887-1987. Reels 1-4. (Available for reference.) |
| PMB Doc 440 | DESPATCHES FROM THE SSEM. (South Sea Evangelical Mission, Melbourne and Sydney) Includes early issues published as Prayer Notes. Nos.1-128. Mar 1932-Jul 1956. 1 reel. (Available for reference.) | PMB Doc 442 | SOLOMON SOLDIERS' NEWS. (South Sea Evangelical Mission, Sydney), Nos 1-163, 1945-1966. 1 reel. (Available for reference.) |
| PMB Doc 443 | JAPANESE GOVERNMENT REPORTS TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SOUTH SEAS ISLANDS UNDER JAPANESE MANDATE, 1921-1937. Reels 1-3. (Available for reference.) | PMB Doc 444 | TE ITOI NI KIRIBATI (Catholic Mission, Tarawa, Kiribati), 1952-1992, gaps. (Available for reference.) |
| Unrestricted titles are available for purchase from the Bureau. Microfilm prices are as follows: |
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