Please see PMB MS 191. These papers form part of the records of the Vicariate of Tonga which are designated Oceania Tonga (OT) in the Marist Archives.

The papers comprise:

• New Hebrides-Oceania Novae Ebudae (OE): Documents include correspondence (1895, 1901-3) relating to the Higginson Loan, Curiosites Linguistiques on the languages of the New Hebrides [Vanuatu], Theogonie de l'ilot Vau, newspaper clippings (1928) on racial problems in the New Hebrides, list of ethnographic publications on the New Hebrides, New Hebrides census (1900, 1913), lecture notes to accompany slide presentation (1926)
• Recueil de diverses pieces sur les lerniers evenements concernant la mission catholique de Tonga-Tabon (dated 1853): Documents include report to the Governor of Tahiti re the Tonga-Tabon war (1852), inquiry into the Catholic mission by M. Belland (1852), article on the emigration of the Wallisian chief, Pooi, to the Tongan archipelago, Tam, King of Futuna, arrest of Captain Mauriac (1853)
• Vicariate of Tonga - Documents under the following headings:
  OT 331 Relations Visitatorum
  OT 411 Mgr Blanc (1901, 1902, 1906)
  OT 450 Procurator Missionum, Wallis, 1884
  OT 498 T.O.R.M. Epistolae - letters from Marie de la Pitie (1881-1937)
  OT 61-200 Maofaga Historiae; Niua-Foou Historia
  OT 61 - 500 N. Toputapu activatas (1855, 1908)
  OT 970 Protestantismus (articles on disturbances in Tonga c.1880)

Captain Fowler went to the Pacific in 1868 as captain of the London Missionary Society vessel JOHN WILLIAMS III. He was dismissed in 1871 because of his treatment of Pacific Islanders. The logbook begins on 12 November 1868 when Captain Fowler left London. It continues to 25 February 1869 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III passed Jervis Bay, NSW. It resumes on 30 March 1869 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III left Sydney for a cruise to the Pacific Islands, which extended to Tahiti, back to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and then to Raiatea before returning to Sydney on 31 December 1869. The cruise took in Raiatea, Tahaa, Huahine, Tahiti, Mangaia, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Niue, Pago Pago, Apia, Aneityum, Mare, Lifu, Uvea, Tubuai and Savai'i. The logbook resumes again on 4 April 1870 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III was at Huahine. Subsequent calls were made at Raiatea, Tahiti, Mangaia, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Manihiki, Rakahanga, Pukapuka, Mitiaro, Mauke, Atiu, Tutuila, Niue, the Tokelau, Ellice (Tuvalu) and Gilbert Islands (Kiribati), the southern New Hebrides and the Loyalty Islands. The JOHN WILLIAMS III returned to Sydney on 20 December 1870. Captain Fowler returned to England in 1871 in the ship BUCKLEY CASTLE.

The clippings were collected by the Rev. T. Watt Leggatt, a Presbyterian missionary on Malekula, New Hebrides (Vanuatu), for about a 25 years from 1887. See also PMB MS 86. The clippings relate to affairs in the New Hebrides generally.

Maurice Myles Witts was born in Bombala, NSW in 1877 and died in Moss Vale, NSW in 1966. During 1899-1900 he worked for the Colonial Sugar Refining Co. in Fiji. In 1900 he enlisted in the Mounted Rifles and fought in the Boer War, after which he was discharged as a Sergeant in 1902. In 1904 he moved to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides where he established a coconut plantation at Hog Harbour. In 1904 he married Mabel Herring (born Sydney, 1877) on Santo. The Witts returned to Australia about 1913. See PMB 1 and PMB 8 for diaries of Maurice Witts, 1905 and 1911.

1. Diary of Mabel Witts, 7 February to 4 November 1909. Describes daily life at Hog Harbour, including the birth of daughter Helen in October 1909.<BR>2. Family correspondence, business and other documents, 1900-17, 1931, 1941, 1968. Includes personal and official letters, printed material and other papers documenting inter alia: Maurice Witts' work in Fiji, 1900; Boer War service, 1902; planting activities on Santo, 1905; membership of the Legion of Frontiersmen, 1906-7; marriage in 1907; appointment as a police constable, 1911; and purchase of property at Wyong, NSW, 1911. Also includes letters from Witts to daughter Betty, 1931 and wife Mabel, 1941 and a letter from a firm of Port Vila Solicitors to Mrs Betty Tyler of Moss Vale re the ownership of Lathu Island off Hogg Harbour, 1968.<BR>3. Four family photographs: Mabel, c.1883 and c.1904; Maurice, 1956; and a group portrait of Maurice and two others, c.1905.<BR>4. Printed map of Espiritu Santo with pencil annotations, n.d.

A detailed account of Presbyterian church missionary activity in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) from 1857 to 1938.

The material is associated with the New Hebrides Presbyterian Mission Synod.