At the outbreak of World War I, Col. Sir Samuel Augustus Pethebridge took command of the Australian North-West Pacific Expedition, raised to occupy German islands north of the equator. Before the expedition could sail, the British government decided to allow the North Pacific islands to be left in the hands of their Japanese occupiers. Pethebridge suggested that his unit, known as Tropical Force, might be used to relieve the expeditionary force led by Colonel W. Holmes which had captured German New Guinea in the first weeks of the war. This was accepted, and in January 1915, Pethebridge succeeded Holmes as administrator at Rabaul. In January 1917, he contracted malaria which forced his return to Australia, where he died a year later.

Robert 'Bob' Leonard Pulsford was born on 2nd September 1915 in Waterloo, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. He attended Hawkesbury Agricultural College and worked as a jackaroo on three properties in NSW. In 1941, he enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force for a year in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (TPNG), serving in Port Moresby, Buna, Finschhafen and Madang in a Malaria Control Unit. After demobilization he completed a Bachelor of Arts (BA) at the University of Sydney, graduating with Honours in Anthropology. He began his service in TPNG in April 1950 with the Department of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries (DASF), based first at Boram near Wewak, and then at Urip near Dagua, 30 miles west of Wewak, where he managed the Dagua Rural Progress Society, producing rice and peanuts as cash crops.

In 1953, he married Mary Upton and their children were born in the Territory; Ian in Wewak and Susan in Lorengau. In 1955, he was posted to Manus, as District Agricultural Officer, where copra was the main economic crop, and in 1958 to Taliligap in the Gazelle Peninsula where he was in charge of a training centre with a focus on cocoa production. He was in Rabaul for two years as District Agricultural Officer for East New Britain then changed careers in 1963 and became the first Lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology at the newly formed Papuan Medical College in Port Moresby teaching medical students and nurses. He retired in December 1973 when the Medical College became the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG). During this period, he co-authored 'Health in a Developing Country' with Prof John Cawte. He was awarded a Masters (MA) degree from the University of Sydney for his thesis: 'Changing Attitudes to Illness and Misfortune amongst the Motu – Koita'; the result of ten years study in Pari urban village near Port Moresby. Pulsford died in 2004.

Lynette (Lyn) Grace Walker was born in 1927. She went to school at Clarendon Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Ballarat before going on to complete her teacher training at the University of Melbourne. Walker was commissioned to the Order of Deaconess at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Camberwell on 9 March, 1958, having trained at Rolland House Deaconess and Missionary Training College. In 1958, Walker travelled to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) to take up the post of educational missionary for the west coast of Malekula, based in South West Bay. Between 1958-1965, Walker taught in the South West Bay District School and developed a new syllabus.

Returning to Australia in 1966, Walker lived in Mornington, Victoria where she cared for her parents and served as Deaconess at the Frankston Presbyterian Church. In 1971, Walker returned to the New Hebrides to serve as Deaconess for Central Islands (Efate and adjacent islands). Based in Vila, she worked with women, young people and Sunday school teachers. Between 1975-1977, she took on the post of Deaconess for Southern Islands (Tanna, Aniwa, Aneityum, Futuna and Erromango). Walker returned to live in Melbourne in April, 1977. From 1978, she worked for the Uniting Church in aged care community outreach until her retirement in 1987. In retirement, she continues to be active in church life and community activities.

Since returning to Australia, Walker has visited Vanuatu several times, including in 1998 to join in the Golden Jubilee celebrations for the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu.

Reverend Frederick James Paton, the son of the noted Presbyterian missionary John Gibson Paton, was born at Aniwa, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) on 5 March 1867. After being educated in Australia and serving there for a short time as a Presbyterian minister, Paton returned to the New Hebrides and spent most of the rest of his life as a missionary there. He was particularly associated with Malekula, where he established a mission station in 1895. Paton worked alongside his wife Helen (died 1905) and second wife Christine (died 1914). He also served as a chaplain to Australian forces during World War I. Frederick Paton died on 12 December 1941.