In 1855, following the formation of the Australasian Connexion of the Methodist Church, general jurisdiction and administration of the Methodist missions in the Friendly Islands, Fiji and New Zealand was transferred to the Methodist Missionary Society of Australasia which subsequently also took control of Methodist activities in Samoa, New Guinea, Papua, the Solomon Islands and North Australia. New Zealand became a separate Conference in 1910 and in 1922 it took over responsibility for the Solomons Islands District. In 1926 Tonga was made an independent Conference in affiliation with the Australasian General Conference.

Mission Board minutes, 1865-97 (3 vols) (MOM 1-3) (1 reel)
Mission District minutes, 1855-1914 (30 vols) (MOM 5-26, 174-81) (17 reels)
Executive Committee minutes, 1898-1939 (4 vols) (MOM 210-12,276) (3 reels)
Sydney Synod minutes, 1906 (1 vol) (MOM 4);
Port Darwin Circuit quarterly minutes, 1873-99 (1 vol) (MOM 27) (1 reel)
Minutes of the Victorian Section of the General Conference, Tonga Committee, 1888-92 (1 vol) (MOM 28)<B><P>See reel list for further details</B>

In the Fiji Independent News Service (FINS) was established in Australia in June 1987 under the wing of the Movement for Democracy in Fiji following the first coup in Fiji. It ran an effective media campaign aimed at persuading key Australian and New Zealand trade unions to maintain trade bans on Fiji. FINS press releases and its newsletter, Fiji Situation Report (PMB Doc 419), gave details of arrests, human rights violations and political news, providing an alternative perspective to the established international press. The FINS Chairperson was Don Dunstan; the Directors were Krishna Datt, Dr Tupeni Baba, Senator Bruce Childs and Professor Ted Wheelwright

Reel 1 Instructions and correspondence, May 1987-Sep 1988
Reel 2 Correspondence, Aug 1988-Jul 1990
Reel 3 Correspondence, Jun 1990-Jul 1992

Pacific Conference No.4 of the ICFTU/APRO held in Port Moresby in 1987 resolved that the ICFTU consider establishing a structure within the ICFTU that would provide a forum for the South Pacific and have an Oceanic identity. The conference also resolved that the ICFTU/APRO education program in the region should be expanded so that there was greater ability to plan and implement activities at the local level. As a result of those decisions the ICFTU/APRO education project was established in June 1988 with the appointment of a full-time educator. The project operated from a Brisbane office, located in the Queensland ACTU building. ICFTU/APRO Regional Conference No.14 held in Bangkok in 1988 endorsed the formation of specific structure for the South Pacific, including the appointment of a full-time executive officer to work alongside the project educator. It was resolved that an inaugural conference would be convened to formalise the establishment of the new body which replaced the Pacific Trade Union Forum and became known as the South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions (SPOCTU).
SPOCTU operated as the peak council of the trade union movement in the Pacific Islands, representing affiliated organisations in Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Australia. Conferences were held every two years and an intensive program of training workshops was undertaken, often in conjunction with the Pacific office of the Commonwealth Trade Union Council.

• Minutes of SPOCTU Conferences and Steering Committees meetings (ACTU copies), 1989-1999.
• ICFTU/APRO, Pacific Trade Union Forum and SPOCTU steering Committees, Conferences and Projects files, 1987-1998.
• Commonwealth Trade Union Council, Pacific Trade Union Education Liaison Committee: meetings, 1992-1996.
• SPOCTU Country files: Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Cook Islands, 1992-1998.
• SPOCTU Circulars to affiliates, 1990-1998.
See Finding aids for details.
See also Pacific Unionist, 1989-1998, at PMB Doc 553.

See PMB 664 for full entry.

The documents are inventoried on pp.372-4 of the Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes, vol.25, December 1969. The inventory is reproduced on the film. The documents comprise letters, reports, mission statistics, correspondence, a list of cultural objects for the 1925 Missionary Exhibition in Rome and records of the S.C. Propaganda.<BR>NOTE: Dates at the beginning of the film are incorrectly given as 1922 - 1950.
See Finding aids for details.

See PMB 664 for full entry.

The documents are inventoried on pp.375-6 of the Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes, vol.25, December 1969. The inventory, with annotations, is reproduced on the film. The documents comprise mission statistics and reports, letters relating to teaching brothers and records of the S.C. Propaganda.
See Finding aids for details.

See PMB 664 for full entry.

The documents are inventoried on pp.380-82 (X/A/6) of the Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes, vol.25, December 1969. The inventory, with annotations, is reproduced on the film. The documents comprise letters, financial statements, statistics, reports and records of the S.C. Propaganda.<BR>NOTE: dates at the beginning of the film are incorrectly given as 1891 - 1923.
See Finding aids for details.

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:
<LI>Coffee Industry Board</LI>
<LI>Coffee Research Institute, and</LI>
<LI>Coffee Development Authority</LI>
These three bodies were re-united into a single body by the formation of the Coffee Industry Corporation in October 1990. The Corporation now (1998) consists of four Divisions all under the authority of the CIC’s Board of Management:
<LI>Industry Affairs Division (the old CIB)</LI>
<LI>External Services Division (the old CDA)</LI>
<LI>Coffee Research Institute</LI>
<LI>Corporate Services Division (new)</LI>

Records of New Guinea coffee industry delegations, conferences and agreements, 1957-1964; records of the Coffee Export committee, 1963-64; minutes of the PNG Coffee Marketing Board./Coffee Industry Board, 1964-1982; registration of coffee exporters, 1965-1985; Highland Farmers and Settlers Association files, 1964-85; localisation of the coffee industry files, 1974-1979. <P><B>See Reel List for further details</B>

A Sub-Station was first establised at Losuia in the South Eastern Division of British New Guinea (later Papua) in 1904. It was rebuilt in 1910 and continued to operate right through World War II till the present. In March 1950 the Papuan Eastern and South Eastern Divisions were merged to create the Milne Bay District. In 1978 the Milne Bay District acquired Provincial status.
The Losuia District Administration covers the northern part of the Milne Bay Province with the mass of the population residing at Kiriwina, Kitava and Murua (Woodlark) Islands. It had two administrative centres, one at Losuia on the island of Kiriwina and a subsidiary centre at Guasopa on the island of Murua.
Local Government Council were established at Kiriwina and Murua. As a consequence of the Kabisawali Movement, the Kiriwina LGC was abandonded in 1990 and replaced by a Kiriwina Community Government constituted under Milne Bay Provincial charter. The Community Government includes a council of traditional chiefs who are regarded as an “Upper House”.

Selected Losuia Distict Administration files, including: economic development, including agriculture, cooperatives, tourism, fisheries and forestry, 1956-92; customs and chiefs, 1927-84; education, 1961-89; Milne Bay Area Authority, 1972-78; Kiriwina Local Government, 1959-93; patrol reports, 1969-94; annual reports, 1969-91 (gaps); social and political development, 1962-89. File lists and indexes. See also PMB 1177.<P><B>See reel list for further details</B>

See PMB 664 for full entry.

The documents are inventoried on pp.377-80 of the Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes, vol.25, December 1969. The inventory, with annotations, is reproduced on the film. Records for Nauru are also included as that island comes within the Vicariate. The documents comprise letters, reports, memoranda, statistics, correspondence, and records of the S.C. Propaganda. <BR>NOTE: dates at the beginning of the film are incorrectly given as 1897 - 1950.
See Finding aids for details.

The Papua New Guinea Trade Union Congress is the national trade union centre of Papua New Guinea. It originates from meetings of PNG workers' associations held in Madang and Lae from 1964. It was not until December 1969 that the Federation of Workers' Associations, the predecessor of the PNG TUC, was formally constituted. Registration as an industrial organisation was granted on 7 March 1970. Paulus Arek was elected the first President, and Michael Kaniniba, of the Lae Miscellaneous Workers' Union, was the first of General Secretary of the Federation. Based in Lae during the 1970s, the Federation adopted the current name, PNG Trade Union Congress, in September 1974. With the support of PANGU activists, membership of the TUC expanded and in 1976 the Port Moresby trade unions, which had organised a rival trade union centre, the Port Moresby Council of Trade Unions, affiliated to the PNGTUC.

The records microfilmed consist of a batch of minutes and correspondence for the period 1968-1984, which appear to be the only surviving records from the time when the TUC was located in Lae, together with later minutes, circulars, press releases and other papers.<BR>Minutes of meetings, 1969-1980 (gaps); Biennial Conference papers, 1983-1996; Executive Council meetings: various papers, 1985-1989; Management Board meeting papers, 1986-1990; meetings with Port Moresby based affiliates, 1989-1992; miscellaneous administrative and management papers, 1985-1988; general correspondence, 1968-1984; international correspondence, 1973-1984; circulars and memoranda, 1985, 1987-1992, 1995 (gaps); press statements, 1985-1995; papers and reports (including some agenda papers), 1974-1990; speeches, mainly by Lawrence Titimur, 1987-1990; South Pacific and Oeanic Council of Trade Unions, Conference No.2, Brisbane, meeting papers, Nov 1993. <P><b>See reel list for further details</b>