The author of this manuscript, generally known as Gordon Thomas, was born in Chicago, USA, in 1890 and died in Sydney in 1966. After schooling in England, Germany and Switzerland, he began a newspaper career in Canada. In 1911 he joined the Methodist Mission in New Guinea as a printer, and later worked as a planter, trader and oil driller in that territory. He was editor of the 'Rabaul Times' from 1925-27 and 1933-42. An obituary of Thomas was published in 'Pacific Islands Monthly' for August, 1966, pp. 9-10.

When the Japanese invaded Rabaul, New Britain, in January 1942, they captured about 300 European civilians. All but half a dozen of these were removed from Rabaul in the 'Montevideo Maru', which was sunk with all hands before reaching her destination, Japan. Thomas was one of the few Europeans who was kept back by the Japanese - to work as a rouseabout at the freezer and power station. 'Rabaul - 1942-45' is an account of Thomas' life as a prisoner-of-war in New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

See also PMB 600.

Rev. John Williams (1796-1839) went to Tahiti (French Polynesia) as a missionary in 1816 and was active in the Society, Hervey, Southern Cook and Samoan Islands. In 1839, he moved to Fasitoouta, Upolu, in Samoa and began a station there. On November 20th of that year, he was killed at Erromango, New Hebrides (Vanuatu). Rev. Robert Bourne (1793-1871) went to the Society Islands as a missionary in 1817. In 1822, he began the mission at Tahaa. He left Tahiti in 1827 and retired to England in 1829.

The principal item on the microfilm is a journal describing a voyage made by the Reverends John Williams and Robert Bourne from Raiatea to Aitutaki, Mangaia, Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke and Rarotonga, Cook Islands, in July-August 1823, to propagate the Gospel. The journal appears to have been written, or written up, by Bourne. There is a subscription in ink by Williams on the last page. Some passages in the journal are the same or similar to those in William's 'A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands', London, 1837. Other items on the microfilm are:

• A letter from Williams to his family from Raiatea, dated November 9, 1822.
• A copy of a letter from Tamatoa, chief of Raiatea, to the President of the United States, dated Raiatea, September 10, 1829.
• A letter from Williams to A. Birnie, dated Raiatea, February 27, 1830.
• A letter from Williams to his sister Mary, dated Portsea, June 17, 1836.
• A letter from Williams to his sister, dated Cape Town, July 14, 1838.
• Copy of an extract from the minutes of a meeting of the London Missionary Society in Samoa on March 30, 1840, concerning news of the murder of Williams in the New Hebrides and his associate James Harris.

The Oceania Marist Province Archives Series (OMPA) is the result of a special project during which records of the Catholic Church in islands of the Western Pacific were copied by Father Theo B. Cook, SM in collaboration with the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. (Cook was born Theodorus Bernardus Wilhelmus Kok but chose to go by the name Cook in Australia: Povey, 2010). The OMPA series covers the Diocese of Tonga (OMPA 1-25), Diocese of Samoa and Tokelau (OMPA 26-74), Marist Fathers, Rome (OMPA 80-100), Diocese of Wallis and Futuna (OMPA 101-126), Diocese of Port Vila (OMPA 127-178), Archdiocese of Noumea (OMPA 179-360) and the Oceania Marist Province Archives (OMPA 361-400).

Detailed indexes were prepared for the six diocese and those records copied in Rome. These can be found at http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/pambu/collections/microfilm.php or compiled in The Catholic Church in the Western Pacific: a guide to records on microfilm (Robert Langdon, ed.), Canberra, 1986.

Fison (1832-1907) a university-educated man, with a keen interest in anthropology, was born in Suffolk, England. He migrated to Australia in 1856, joined the Methodist Church, and went to Fiji as a Wesleyan missionary in 1864. He remained in Fiji until 1884, when he returned to Australia and became editor of the Spectator, a Melbourne church paper.

Copies of letters, notes on Fiji customs and personalities, sketches of life in Fiji, and an early draft of Fison's book 'Tales of Old Fiji' (London, 1907). The wording of some of the tales, as recorded in these papers, has been much worked over and occasionally differs in its final form from that in the published versions.

The Reverend Richard Heath Rickard (1858-1939) was a pioneer missionary in New Britain. He published the first New Britain dictionary and grammar in 1889.

Some of the documents in this collection relate only indirectly to the Rev. R.H. Rickard. The documents comprise:

1. A copy of a letter dated May 1, 1882, from Rickard to the Wesleyan Church offering his services as a missionary in New Britain.
2. A fragment of a diary kept by Rickard's wife in the Duke of York Islands from May 19, 1883, to September 24, 1883.
3. Four letters from Mrs C. Phebe Parkinson to Mrs Rickard, written between 1898 and 1939 from various places in the New Guinea Islands. One of the letters, of 1935, was written from the little-known Tingwon Islands, off the western tip of New Hanover, and is one of the fullest descriptions known of those islands. (Mrs Parkinson became a friend of the Rickards during their early years in New Britain. For an outline of her career, see the Bureau's newsletter Pambu, November, 1968:4)

The Rev. James Egan Moulton (1841-1909) was a noted Methodist missionary in Tonga from 1865 to 1906. He was the founder of Tubou College, Nuku'alofa.

1.Tongan history from 1797-1854, commencing with the death of Mumui on 29/4/1797. 2. The history of the Tui Kano Kupolu. 3. Story of origin of Fakafonua. 4. Legends: Bugalotohoa and Munimatahai; Abakula; The Fuaa; Lafa

Emeritus Professor R.G. Ward was Professor of Human Geography at the ANU from 1971 to 1998, and Director of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies from 1980 to 1993.

He was Foundation Professor of Geography at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1967 to 1971. He has taught at University College London, and University of Auckland and is President of the Pacific Science Association. Professor Ward has been conducting research in the Pacific Islands since 1956, and has done fieldwork in Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

His books, as author or editor, include "Land Use and Population in Fiji", "American Activities in the Central Pacific, 1790-1870", "The Settlement of Polynesia: A Computer Simulation", "Man in the Pacific Islands", "South Pacific Agriculture: Choices and Constraints", "Land, Custom and Practice in the South Pacific", and "Samoa: Mapping the Diversity".

Professor Gerard Ward took these pictures when his ship stopped for a day in October 1956 at Niue whilst on his way to undertake field work in Western Samoa.

Professor Ward has commented on the visit: “One of the striking things about Niue was the upraised coral nature of the island. It is very difficult to cultivate and this is evident in the photographs PMB Photo 12_14 – 16. There is broken coral everywhere so parts of the land have very little soil and are unusable. These pictures show this, PMB Photo 12_26. Another feature is the lack of beaches, making access to the sea difficult and opportunities for fishing limited.”

This collection of photographs include streets and boat ramps around Alofi in Niue. The collection also includes images of local dwellings that use burnt lime plaster, village scenes, plantations, fishing techniques and outrigger canoes.

Ward died on 16 January 2023 in Adelaide.

The copra trade was the core business of the Deutches Handel und Plantagen Gesselschaft. The company had monopoly recruiting rights enabling it to draw labour for its plantations in Samoa from the eastern New Guinea islands and the northern Solomon Islands. The labour registers give the number and name of the labourer, his or her village and district. The registers also note the plantation on which the labourer worked and transfers to employment elsewhere. If applicable, the date and cause of death is noted. There was a high mortality. Otherwise the register notes the date of return. There is also a column for further notes.

Arbeiter Register, Nos.6367-7832, 25 May 1887-24 Feb 1891 [16 Mar 1891];
Arbeiter Register, Nos.7833-9409, 16 Mar 1891-Jan 1897;
Arbeiter Register, Nos.9406-10128, Nos.1-1237, Jan 1897-Jan 1906;
Arbeiter Register, Nos.1238-3187, Jan 1906-Sep 1913.

Father Gustave Desnoes, MSC, a Frenchman, was born in 1888. He went to Papua as a missionary in 1906 and returned to France in 1927 due to poor health. This dictionary was compiled from language notes made by more than a dozen priests. Fr. Desnoes compiled the dictionary and completed his transcription of the Mekeo dictionary in 1933 at La Betheline, Chateau Gombert. Typing of the manuscript was completed at Veifa'a in 1942.

A dictionary in French of the Mekeo language of Papua New Guinea, originally in 10 books and recopied in two volumes. Reel 1: Vol.1 - completed in 1933. Typed in 1941. Entries A - I. Reel 2: Vol.2 - completed August 8, 1933. Typed in 1942. Entries K - U.

Captain Hamilton (1852-1937) was born in Scotland and came to Australia at the age of 10. In 1882 - 1883 he made voyages from Brisbane to Vanuatu (at that time the New Hebrides), New Britain and New Ireland (Papua New Guinea) in labour recruiting vessels. For a dozen or so years from the late 1890s, he ran the Hamilton Pearling Co. with luggers operating out of Komuli in the Admiralty Islands and Gizo in Solomon Islands. This company also traded in copra, tortoise shell, black lip and green snail shell. Later, Captain Hamilton had big planting interests in the Solomons, mainly on Choiseul. He died in Sydney in November, 1937.

The papers copied on this microfilm are the most interesting and valuable historically of a large collection (in the Oxley Memorial Library) relating to Captain Hamilton's career. They comprise:

• Diary of a recruiting voyage in the schooner Lochiel from Brisbane to the New Hebrides from September 20, 1882, to December 29, 1882.
• Diary of a recruiting voyage in the schooner Jessie Kelly from Brisbane to the New Hebrides, New Britain and New Ireland from March to September, 1883.
• Two reports on voyages in search of pearl shell in New Guinea and the Solomons in 1899-1900.
• Log of the pearling lugger Nippon from April 20, 1901 to September 24, 1901, kept at the Hamilton Pearling Company's station at Komuli, Admiralty Islands.
• Log of the Hamilton Pearling Company's station at Komuli from September 27 1902 to March 10 1903.
• Logs and diaries kept by William Hamilton in the vessels Canomie, Ysabel, Gazelle and Kambin from January 1 1903 to November 14 1905. These concern the operations of the Hamilton Pearling Company in New Guinea and the Solomons.

For further details of Captain Hamilton's career and of his other papers in the Oxley Memorial Library, see the Bureau's newsletter 'Pambu' October 1968:3, pp.3-6.