Correspondence of the Roman Catholic Mission, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu):
Letters (1924-32) of Father J.B. Suas, S.M. (continued from PMB MS 57).
Letters of Father Antoine Tayac, S.M., from Vao (Malekula) and Melsisi (Pentecost), 1898-1902.
Letters of Father Jean-Baptiste Prin, S.M., from Vao (Malekula), Nagire (Aoba/Ambae), Namaram and Melsisi (Pentecost), Lolopuepue (Aoba) and Santo, 1901-1919.
Letters of Father Pierre Chauvel, S.M., from Olal and Fali (Ambrym), Lopagalo and Port Sandwich (Malekula), Sesivi (Ambrym) and Port Olry (Espiritu Santo), 1901-1922.
Letters of Father Francois Degoulange, S.M., from Vila, 1903-1914. Note: Most of the letters on this microfilm are addressed to Monsignor Victor Doucere, S.M., Apostolic Vicar of the New Hebrides.
The logbooks cover voyages in the ships 'Laughing Water' (1868), 'Corypheus' (1870-71), 'Day Spring' (1872), 'Alsager' (1872-73) and 'Ceara' (1874). The voyages in the 'Laughing Water' were between Newcastle, Lyttleton (NZ) and Melbourne. Those in the 'Corypheus' between Melbourne and China. On her last voyage the 'Corypheus' ran aground on a reef in the Marshall Islands and the crew sailed 3,000 miles in the ship's boats to Rockhampton. The voyage of the 'Day Spring' was from Melbourne to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and return. The 'Alsager' sailed from Melbourne to Malden Island for a cargo of guano. She foundered off Tongatapu, apparently as a result of sabotage. The 'Ceara's' voyages were from Adelaide to Mauritius and then to various Australian ports.
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.
Reports on voyages to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) in 1902 and 1904 of Governor Edouard Picanon, of New Caledonia; and miscellaneous papers on the exploration and economic development of the New Hebrides of that period.
Early issues published under the title New Hebrides South Sea Island Quarterly Jottings of the John G. Paton Mission Fund, edited by Rev. James Paton, a member of the Paton family which was very active for many years in the New Hebrides Presbyterian Mission. Place of publications and publishing body vary. For further details and contents see R. Langdon (ed) An index to Quarterly Jottings from the New Hebrides ... (Canberra: PMB, 1988)
Nos. 1-27, July 1893-Jan 1900
Quarterly Jottings from the New Hebrides - John G. Paton Mission Fund
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.
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.
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)
