Diaries spanning Reverend John R. Metcalfe's entire career as a Methodist missionary and are of particular historical interest for his 37 years in Solomon Islands from 1920-1957. Metcalfe was appointed to Solomon Islands in 1920. After a brief period at Roviana, he was appointed to Choiseul (Lauru island) as assistant to the Rev. V. LeC. Binet. Apart from four years at Teop, he remained on Choiseul (with a break during the war) until 1951. He was then appointed chairman of the Methodist Mission in the Solomons.
Reverend John Geddie (1815-72), a Presbyterian missionary, left Nova Scotia, Canada, for the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in 1846. He reached Aneityum in May 1848 in the mission ship JOHN WILLIAMS. He was accompanied by his wife Charlotte Geddie (nee MacDonald, 1822-) and Thomas Powell of the London Missionary Society (LMS). Geddie and Powell established themselves on the southern side of the island, but were coolly received by the inhabitants. When Powell left the island after about a year, the Geddies remained with Samoan teachers. In 1852, the mission was joined by Reverend John Inglis and his wife Jessie from Scotland, representing the Reformed Presbyterian Church. They established a station on the northern side of the island. Meanwhile, Geddie had begun printing books in the Aneityumese language - the first being a spelling book, with readings from Scripture, hymns and prayers. During the next few years many similar works and translations of the Scriptures were published. Geddie retired to Australia in 1872, and died soon afterwards.
The diaries provide information about Geddie's activities during his first ten years on Aneityum.
John T. Arundel (1841-1919) was a leading figure in the Pacific phosphate industry in Kiribati and Nauru from the 1860s until his death. See: Pacific Islands Monthly, April 1874, pp.59-61. For a summary of Arundel's activities from 1865-92, see film PMB MS 494. The National Library of Australia holds a number of Arundel photographic albums. The diaries have been filmed on reels PMB 480 - 492.
Diary 9 June 1870 - 31 December 1872.<BR>See also PMB 14, 498.
John T. Arundel Diary 1881 - 1887. During this period, John T. Arundel & Co were involved in guano mining and coconut plantations in Kiribati. See also reels PMB MS 14, 498.
John T. Arundel's Diary 1893 - 1894. During this period, John T. Arundel & Co were involved in guano mining and coconut plantations in Kiribati. See also PMB MS 14, 498.
John T. Arundel's Diary 1895 - 1896. During this period, John T. Arundel & Co were involved in guano mining and coconut plantations in Kiribati. See also PMB MS 14, 498.
John T. Arundel's Diary 1903 - 1904. In 1897, John T. Arundel & Co merged its business with trading and plantation firm Henderson and Macfarlane. They formed the Pacific Islands Company Ltd (PIC), which was based in London with trading activities in the Pacific, particularly Kiribati. In 1902, PIC became the Pacific Phosphate Company and began phosphate mining on Banaba, Kiribati in 1901 and on Nauru in 1906. See also PMB MS 14, 498.
Born in 1839 near Birmingham, England, Banks spent some years in the United States where he fought in the Civil War and was also an employee of Wells Fargo, whose employment he left while under a charge of embezzlement. He settled in the Cook Islands (Atiu) in 1881. He became a trader and lived in Arorangi until his death in 1915. For a period of his life Banks adopted the pseudonym John Scard.
Two diaries with daily handwritten entries describing Banks' life and work as a trader in the Cook Islands. For other Banks diaries see PMB 1068-1070.
Four diaries with handwritten entries describing Banks' life and work as a trader in the Cook Islands. Banks' diaries for 1897 and 1898 can be found on PMB 1067. Banks' diary for 1903 can be found on PMB 1069-1070.
John T. Arundel's Diary 1914 - 1919. Arundel was involved in phosphate mining in Kiribati and Nauru. This diary was written in the final years of his life before he died in Bournemouth, England, in November 1919. See also PMB MS 14, 498.
