Frank Filmer was a missionary with the Churches of Christ on Pentecost Island, New Hebrides from 1908-1919. Frank became engaged to Rosa Jane Fountain and in 1908 left to work as a missionary for the Church of Christ. He returned to South Australia and on 6 April 1909 Rosa and Frank were married in the Grote Street Church of Christ, Adelaide, South Australia. They had five children, four of whom were born in the islands. In 1923 Rosa developed malaria and died. Frank returned with his young children to Australia and worked as a Minister for the Church of Christ in Kadina, South Australia. Frank married Vera Edna Woodward on 2 November 1925 and returned to work on Ambryn as a plantation manager, where he had two more children. In 1929 they returned to South Australia. Frank later bought a dairy farm in Meadows where he and his three sons worked.

Four diaries written by Frank Filmer, 1908-1918

Reel 1:
Diary 1, 29 Feb 1908-31 Dec 1909;
Diary 2, 1 Jan 1910-31 Dec 1912
Diary 3, 1 Jan 1913-31 Dec 1915
Diary 4, 1 Jan 1916-31 Dec 1918

William Gray (1854-1937) was born near Gawler, South Australia. He obtained his BA from Adelaide Uni. and graduated in divinity from Union College in 1880, the first Presbyterian student to complete the course. He spent 1881, the year of his ordination, in medical training at Adelaide Hospital and as Minister to the congre-gations of Goodwood and Mount Barker. He married Elizabeth McEwen in 1882 and shortly after they sailed for Weasisi, Tanna, New Hebrides in the Dayspring. Gray was the first Presbyterian Church of South Australia missionary to the New Hebrides. He produced a grammar, primer, hymnal and translation of Luke's Gospel in the Tanna language. At the age of 71 Gray became head of the Smith of Dunesk Presbyterians Mission which later became the nucleus of John Flynn's Australian Inland Mission. See also PMB 1047 and 1048.

The collection is divided into three parts.

Part I - Personal Diaries (seven) (Please see PMB 1047 for diaries 1882-84)1 September 1884 to 31 August 1885<BR>1 September 1885 to 31 March 1887<BR>1 April 1887 to 28 April 1889<BR>1 May 1889 to 12 September 1891<BR>12 September 1891 to 31 July 1893<BR>1 August 1893 to 11 March 1898<BR>Medical diary containing case notes, including his wife's confinements, 1882-94

Part II - Miscellaneous Papers<BR>1 - Diary of Andrew Gray, typescript copy, 1794-1816, 10pp; newspaper clipping ?1935 by J.D. Allan Gray (grandson).<BR>2 - Genealogy of the Gray family prepared by William Gray, 15pp handwritten and a 14-page typescript copy<BR>3 - Photograph of Bishop John Gray with notes on reverse; brief history, 1p; photograph of William Gray's mother, Elizabeth Milne<BR>4 - Marriage certificate of William Gray and Elizabeth McEwen, 1882<BR>5 - Birth certificate of William Watt Erskine Gray, 1888<BR>6 - Birth certificate of Winifred Nellie Turner, 1898<BR>7 - Marriage certificate of William W.E. Gray and Winifred N. Turner, 1917<BR>8 - Short history of William Gray on his death in 1937, handwritten (author unknown); press clipping from The Banner, article entitled 'A Bush Batism'<BR>9 - 5 letters to William W.E. Gray, Winifred Gray and the S.A. Caledonian Society Inc. from William Gray re the disposition of books, manuscripts and papers, 1931, 1932 and 1937<BR>10 - Brief history of Church's partici-pation in mission fields in the New Hebrides, William Gray, 1936, 6pp 11 - Typescript article entitled 'Tanna', by William Gray, 3pp<BR>12 - Typescript article entitled 'The New Hebrides, news from Tanna: A Natives' Conference' by William Gray, 5pp<BR>13 - Account of the wreck of the Ferdinand de Lessops, by William Gray, handwritten, 10pp<BR>14 - Notes by clerk of Synod on New Hebrides Mission Synod, 1882, 2pp<BR>15 - Extracts from letters from British and Foreign Bible Society, 1895<BR>16 - Extracts from Journal of Rev. Oscar Michelson, 1897, 10pp<BR>17 - Notes from Minutes of New Hebrides Synod, 1899<BR>18 - Typescript copy of letter written in English by Nuvau, a man on Tanna, dated June 29th 1932 to Thomas Watt, son of William Watt a missionary on Tanna for forty years, 1p<BR>s19 - 'Some Notes on the Tannese' in Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographie, Bd. VII. 1894, pp 227-241, illustrated. Reprint of article by William Gray, 1892<BR>20 - 'William and Elizabeth Gray, Life on Tanna, New Hebrides' draft of a family history begun by William Watt Erskine Gray, incomplete, 1953<BR>21 - Correspondence from Queensland re whereabouts of missing Kanakas

Part III - Correspondence to William Gray<BR>The correspondence has been arranged in alphabetical order by the owner. The correspondents are:<BR>Annand, 1894; Australian New Hebrides Company Ltd, 1894; Braithwaite G., 1882-88; British and Foreign Bible Society, 1896; Connell W., 1887; Copeland J., 1887; Cosh J. 1885-94; Cronstedt A., 1894; Forlong H., 1895-96; Fraser R., 1886; Freeman R., 1884; Goodlet and Smith Ltd, 1893-96 (for church at Aniwa); Gunn W., 1883-1902; Ingliss J., 1888; Johnson C.F.; Leggatt Watt F., 1887-94; Landel J., 1894; Lawrie J., 1894; Lyall J. and Lyall H., 1885-88; Macdonald D., 1884-85; MacKenzie J., 1888-1902; Macmillan T., 1894-1911; Martin A., 1894; Michelsen O., 1884-95; Milne P., 1884-95; Morton A., 1887; Murdo R., 1887; Murray C., 1886-87; Paton D., F. and J., 1882-94; Presbyterian Church of South Australia, 1894; Presbyterian Church of Victoria, 1894; Rolland N., 1894; Smaill T., 1894; Steel R., 1882; Watt Agnes, 1893-94; Watt W., 1887-1902There are also 3 letters by the same correspondent whose name is difficult to read, E.J. Suraski?, written from Whitesand January/February 1886. The correspondent and another (Mr Collins?) were shot at by natives and their house broken into and robbed. William Gray offered refuge at his home if the correspondent was unable to get a ship to take him off. See reference to this incident in Elizabeth Gray's journal, PMB 1048.The last item is a letter signed by the Commander of the Raven, Frank Murphy?, 1887

Maurice M. Witts, (1877-1966) an Australian who fought in the Boer War, went to the New Hebrides as a settler in 1904 after a brief sojourn in Fiji. With two cousins, Theo and Arthur Thomas, he planted coconuts in the Hog Harbour area of Espiritu Santo. He returned to Australia about 1913 and lived in the Moss Vale district until his death.

The diary gives an account of the life of a copra planter in a remote part of the New Hebrides, and contains numerous observations on the natives of the Hog Harbour area. See also PMB 8 for a later diary by Witts for the year 1911.

Donaldson was one of about 40 British employees of the British-owned Pacific Phosphate Company on Nauru when World War I broke out. Nauru was then a German colony. On 6 September 1914, the Germans deported the British employees to Ocean Island, part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate. On 3 November 1914, an Australian force under Colonel W. Holmes, arrived at Ocean Island in the company's ship Messina, reembarked the British employees and returned them to Nauru, which was placed under Australian military control.

The diary gives an account of these events and those preceding and following them.