Dr. Bryant Allen submitted this thesis as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Geography at Massey University in 1969. In 1976 he completed a PhD at the Australian National University titled Information flow and innovation diffusion in the East Sepik district, Papua New Guinea.

Dr. Allen carried out research in the Cook Islands in the 1960s and in Papua New Guinea from the 1970s to the present. His main interests are in the sustainability of agricultural systems and rural development. He has studied a number of PNG agricultural systems and has defined, mapped and described all PNG agricultural systems with Mike Bourke and Robin Hide. He has used the agricultural systems databases, to identify poor and disadvantaged areas in PNG, and has worked on food security and on the social and economic aspects of road maintenance. He is a co-author of the PNG Rural Development Handbook. He now works as a consultant for AusAID, FAO and the World Bank.

Foreward
Preface
Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Plates
Glossary of Terms

Introduction, p.1
Chapter I: The Mangaian Environment, p.3
Mangaia, p.3
Mangaian ecological conceptions, p.4
Soils, p.8
Climate, p.12
Mangaian crops, p.14
Ecological zones and land use, p.19

Chapter II: The Mangaian Society, p.28
Major population trends, 1821-1966, p.28
District populations, p.36
Social organisation, p.44
Land tenure, p.48
The village, p.53
Changing social status, p.57

Chapter III: Traditional Agriculture and the Cultivation of Food Crops, p.79
Present patterns of cultivation, p.65
Animals, p.76

Chapter IV: The Development of Commercial Agriculture
Initial moves towards surplus agricultural production, p.79
The introduction of cash crops, p.82
Increased contacts with the advanced economy, p.85
Post 1945 advances in commercial agriculture, p.92
Technological aid and a new market, p.92
Conclusions, p.96

Chapter V: The Extent of Commercialisation in 1967, p.101
Pineapple production, p.101
Sources of income, p.106
Technology, p.118
Patterns of labour, p.129
The use of credit, p.138
The occupational status of agriculture, p.143
Commercialisation and the perception of problems, p.154
Entrepreneurial activity, p.154
Conclusion, p.161

Conclusion, p.164

Appendices

Nigel Oram was an ethnologist and academic. In 1946, after military service in World War II, he read history at Oxford University. This was followed by a career in the British Colonial Service in East Africa and Uganda. In 1961, Oram helped set up the New Guinea Research Unit, Port Moresby, which was an offshoot of the Australian National University. His role was to undertake social research. To facilitate his information gathering, Oram learnt the Motu and Hula languages. In 1969, he was appointed a fellow at the University of Papua New Guinea, where he remained from 1969 to 1975. Oram returned to Australia where he taught history for nine years at La Trobe University and where, upon his retirement, he became an honorary senior research fellow. An extensive collection of Oram’s PNG research papers is held at the National Library of Australia (MS 9436).

The mystery of Guise: conflict between missionaries, colonial administrators and foreign traders during the British New Guinea Protectorate, Ts., 29pp., is a biography of Reginald Edward Guise, grandfather of Sir John Guise, G.C.M.G., K.B.E., Hon. Ll.D., the first Governor-General of the independent state of Papua New Guinea. This version of Nigel Oram’s manuscript dates from sometime after 1994. In the late 1990s Oram’s health went steadily down hill, and completing the manuscript was beyond him. After Oram’s death, Janet Fingleton rescued the manuscript from her father’s computer. Donald Denoon has since worked on an edited version of this paper which is to be submitted to the Journal of Pacific History. This is a complete copy of the existing manuscript, but note that the references and some of the footnotes are missing.

For details see PMB Doc 34

Nos. 28-54, April 1900 - October 1906

Ellis (1869-1951) was born in Queensland and educated in New Zealand. In the 1890s he became an employee of the Pacific Islands Company Ltd of London, which was involved in the guano industry on islands in the Coral Sea and the Phoenix Group (Kiribati). In 1900, he became curious about a rock which was used as a doorstop in the Sydney office of his company and this led to the discovery of the phosphate deposits on Ocean Island and Nauru. He was a prominent figure in the Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd in 1902. After the phosphate company was bought out by the British, Australian and New Zealand governments after World War I, he became commissioner for New Zealand on the British Phosphate Commission, which was established to exploit the phosphate deposits on Ocean Island and Nauru. He was the author of three books, Ocean Island and Nauru (1936), Adventuring in Coral Seas (1937) and Mid-Pacific Outpost (1946).

The documents on the microfilm include: 1. Ellis' diary for May 1900 when he went to Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati to establish the phosphate industry there; 2. Clippings on the phosphate industry from various newspapers and journals; 3. Correspondence covering the period 1920-51.

For details see PMB Doc 34

Nos. 55-82, January 1907 - October 1913