Walter Edward Gudgeon (1842-1920) succeeded F.J. Moss as British Resident in the Cook Islands in September 1898. On the annexation of those islands by New Zealand in 1901, he became the first Resident Commissioner. He held this post until 1909.
The papers are entitled:

1. The Activities of Walter Moss in the Pacific or the Eccentricities of a British Resident, (43 pp. typescript)
2. Cook Islands Maori Genealogical Tables (15pp. Mss and typescript)
3. The Kingdom in the Pacific (20 pp. typescript)
4. Letter to Lord Ranfurly of September 20, 1898 (3 pp. Mss)
5. The L.M.S. in the South Seas (6 pp. typescript)
6. The London Mission: Its Policy and Peculiarities (14 pp. typescript)
7. The London Mission Society in the Cook and Northern Islands (21 pp. typescript)
8. Message to the Cook Islands Parliament dated September 26, 1898 (3 pp. Mss).

Includes 5 printed reports which appeared as a numbered series.

Nos 1. & 2.: Report on the Suau-Tawala Anthropology of the South-Eastern Division and part of the Eastern Division of Papua - W.E. Armstrong
No. 3.: Collection of Curios and the Preservation of Native Culture - F.E. Williams
No. 4.: The Vailala Madness and the Destruction of Native Ceremonies in the Gulf Division - F.E. Williams
No. 5.: Animistic and Other Spiritualistic Beliefs of the Bina tribe, Western Papua (reprinted from Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. LI, July-December 1921) - A.P. Lyons

Records of the Societe des Etudes Oceaniennes, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia:

1. Documents concerning Ernest Darling, the Nature Man, 1913-18. (See also the Bureau's newsletter 'Pambu' 1969:14, pp. 1-9)
2. A document concerning the establishment of the French protectorate over Rurutu, Rimatara and dependencies, March 27, 1889.
3. Miscellaneous manuscripts of Xavier Caillet (1822-1901).
4. Miscellaneous documents relating to the reign of Queen Pomare IV.
5. Autobiography (in Tahitian) of Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai (1875-1952), a notable Tahitian chief and orator.
6. Newspaper clippings concerning an old cannon found in the pass of Papeete in 1963.

Father Baldwin spent several years at the Sacred Heart Mission in the Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea.

A 333 page Bohilai-English vocabulary. Bohilai is the language of Basilaki Island (formerly Moresby Island), one of the islands of the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua. Additional language material by Father Baldwin is available as PMB 1031

Father Baldwin spent several years at the Sacred Heart Mission in the Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea. He completed this vocabulary between 1936 and 1937.

A 380 page Biga Boyowa-English vocabulary, inscribed Gusaweta Trobriand Isl. Nov 20th 1939. Biga Boyowa is a Trobriand Island language. See also PMB MS 41 and MS 64. Additional language material by Father Baldwin will be available as PMB 1031

Dictionaries and vocabulary lists from the Roman Catholic Mission, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu):

1. Dictionary of the language of Aoba (Ambae) by Father J.B. Prin, S.M. (French-Aoba).
2. Grammaire de Melsisi - Grammar of the language of Melsisi (Pentecost) by Father Joseph Niel, S.M.
3. Dictionary of the language of Melsisi (Pentecost) by X (French-Melsisi).
4. Dictionary of the language of Melsisi (Pentecost) by Father Elie Tattevin, S.M. (French-Melsisi) A-D only.
5. Dictionary of the language of Wala (Malekula) by Father Casimir Salomon, S.M. (French-Wala).
6. Vocabulary of the Loltong language of Pentecost by Father Pierre Gonnet, S.M. (Loltong-French and French-Loltong).
7. Vocabulary of the Loltong language of Pentecost by Father Elie Tattevin, S.M. (Loltong-French).
8. Vocabulary of the Loltong language of Pentecost by Father Elie Tattevin, S.M. (French-Loltong).

Dictionaries produced by the Roman Catholic Mission New Hebrides (now Vanuatu):

1. Dictionary of the language of South-West Bay, Malekula, by Father Pierre Chauvel, S.M. (French-South West Bay).
2. Dictionary of the language of Vao, Malekula, by Father Casimir Salomon, S.M. (Vao-French).
3. Dictionary of the language of Olal, Ambrym (French-Olal).
4. Dictionary of the language of Talomako, Big Bay, Espiritu Santo (Talomako-French).
5. Dictionary of the Talomako language of Big Bay, Espiritu Santo, by Father Alphonse Ardouin, S.M., (French-Talomako).

Arthur Charles Hamilton-Gordon, first Baron Stanmore (1829-1912) was born in London and served from 1854 to 1857 as a member of the House of Commons. Gordon served as Governor of Trinidad (1866-1870), Mauritius (1871-1874), Fiji (1875-1880), New Zealand (1880-1882) and Ceylon (1883-1890). From 1877 to 1882 he also served as High Commissioner and Consul-General for the Western Pacific.

A collection of 33 pamphlets, bound in one volume, formed by Sir Arthur Gordon when Governor of Fiji and Western Pacific High Commissioner, consisting of parliamentary papers and printed correspondence relating to Western Pacific islands other than Fiji, including New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides. The pamphlets also include: reports on the cesssion of Rotuma, pearl shell fisheries in the Torres Strait, the labour trade, the Intercolonial Conference of 1881; papers relating to conflicts, kidnappings and murders in the islands involving the ships “Borealis”, “Sandfly”, “Aurora”, “Leslie”, “Winifred”, “Miranda”, “Isabelle”, “Cormorant”, together with reports by Commodore Wilson on murders on the coast of New Guinea; general reports on conditions and commerce in the islands by W. Seed and Sterndale; Capt. W.H. Marshall’s report on his observations of the Ellice, Gilbert, Marshall and Caroline Islands in the HMS “Emerald”, 1881.
<b>See Finding aids for details.</b>
See also PMB 1213 and 1215.

Richard Thurnwald was born in Austria in 1869, received formal training in ethnology and related fields, went on a fieldtrip on behalf of the Berlin Museum für Völkerkunde to the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands, 1906-1909, returned to New Guinea for a Sepik River expedition, 1913-16, and came back to the New Guinea islands region in the 1930s. He was a great collector of artefacts some of which are held in German museums, others are lost, some possibly incorporated in Australian museum collections. Thurnwald's publications are extensive (c.300 articles and books), but not widely distributed.

Some of Thurnwald’s recordings and photographs, plus Iniet (NG) song texts and tales & 741 Iniet stone figures which he collected, are held in the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. Some of his photographs are held in the Berlin Institute of Ethnology which Thurnwald founded in 1948. Some further Thurnwald papers are held in the Stirling Memorial Library, Berkeley California.

Richard Thurnwald’s widow, Hilda, transferred these papers to Professor Stephen Wurm, Linguistics Department, RSPAS, in about 1963. They were handed over to Don Laycock (the second appointee in the Department, after Wurm) for work on a Buin dictionary. After Dr Laycock's early death the papers were held in the Dept for some years where Lois Carrington, then a Research Assistant in Linguistics, worked on them from time to time. In 1993 the Thurnwald papers were transferred to Tania Laycock, Dr Laycock’s widow, who continues to hold them to date (Feb 2005) but is considering transferring them to the National Library of Australia. A complete list of the papers is available from the Bureau. The documents on the microfilm consist of a typescript of Thurwald’s Buin-German Dictionary, which was to have been published as the second volume of his Forschungen auf den Salomon-Inseln and word lists, comparative word lists, a phrase book and grammatical notes for the Baining, Gazelle, Buin, Alu, Lambutxo, Bambatana, Vellalavella, Panone and Tambatamba languages (spoken in New Britain, Bougainville, the Shortlands and other north Solomon Islands). Also microfilmed are files and word lists for Tjimundo (Lower Sepik) and Banaro/Ramunga (upper Keram River, Sepik District, New Guinea) languages. <b>See Finding aids for details.</b>
Note: Material was copied as found on microfilm reel and delivered in digital in same order. Some pages on reel 1 are not in order, but are clearly numbered at top of page.

A collection of slides from Papua New Guinea taken by Jill Clingan. The images document her time in Papua New Guinea working as a nurse for the Australian Baptist Mission from 1971-1973. The images cover several aspects of her life in the Western Highlands in PNG, including the mission station, her work as a nurse, the hospital, clinic visits, daily living, gardens, food and cooking, aspects of traditional PNG culture and celebrations including sing-sings, Christmas, health surveys and visits to other nearby missions.
Places visited include Baiyer valley, Baiyer river, Southern Highlands, Kiwinkia, Giimanda, Mt. Hagen, Wewak, Lumusa gorge, Wahgi Valley, Kudjip, Giimanda, Madang, Kar Kar Island, Ramu Valley, Ramu River, Lae.