After graduating from Manchester University, Roy Davies joined the British Overseas Civil Service in 1944. He served first as a cadet with the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and later became a Solomon Islands District Commissioner on Malaita. From 1957 to 1962 he was Secretary of the Government of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. He retired in 1972.

A 368 page typescript with mss corrections, footnotes, index and maps, c. 1970. Divided into 43 chapters, with an introduction, this manuscript gives the author's reminiscences of the Masina Rule Movement in the Solomon Islands during the years 1944-47. Based on contemporary notes recorded in his personal diary and on other personal papers from the time, Davies constructs an account of Masina rule from the viewpoint of the British colonial administrators.

Also included on this reel is a 45 page typescript by Davies entitled 'The Marching Rule and the British Solomon Islands Government', dated April 1980.

Hilda Steadman was the wife of Reverend W. Rex Steadman, who worked as a Methodist Minister in Fiji beteen 1912 and 1940. During their time in Fiji the Steadmans devoted themselves to working with the Indian community. Between 1912 and 1920 they were based at Navua, from 1920 to 1926 they ran the Indian Mission Church and Boys' School at Toorak (Suva), during 1926/27 they worked at Lautoka, after which they returned to Australia for five years. In 1932 they returned to Fiji and spent the next eight years at Rewa organising the Methodist Indian educational system. During her time in Fiji Hilda founded the Indian Women's Benevolent Society. In 1940 the Steadmans retired to South Australia.

The papers include the following items:

• letter by Hilda to her parents written from Naduri, Vanua Levu, 17/10/20 (10p.)
• newspaper clippings, 1920-41 Indian work in Fiji, mss, 6p.
• Navua, 1912, typescript, 3p.
• The Rewa sojourn, t/s, 3p.
• Medical work in Fiji, mss, 6p.
• Welfare work among the women of Fiji, t/s, 5p.
• Reminiscences of Mrs A.J. Small (wife of Methodist Missionary in Fiji) t/s 25p.
• obituary for Mrs Steadman, 1975
• 214 photographs, 1913-40, depicting the following: the work of the Methodist Church in Fiji, students, colleagues, friends and family of the Steadmans, members of the Indo-Fijian community, scenes in various parts of Fiji. Most photographs are identified.

Born on the island of Matuku in the Lau group, Fiji, Tuilovoni trained as a teacher in Suva in the 1930s. After teaching at the Methodist Primary School on Bau, he decided to become a Methodist minister. From 1947 to 1950 he studied at Drew Theological Seminary in New Jersey where he gained a Bachelor of Divinity. On his return to Fiji he was appointed Principal of the Bible School at Davuilevu and Director of the Young People's Department of the Methodist Church, a position he held until 1967. Between 1961 and 1963 he studied for a Master of Sacred Theology at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. In 1964 he was appointed first President of the newly created Fiji Methodist Conference. Upon the completion of his Presidential term in 1967 he was appointed Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches, a position he held until 1972 when he was reappointed as President of the Methodist Conference. In 1978 he moved to Sydney to serve as Associate State Secretary for the Board of Missions in the New South Wales Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia. He ended his career doing parish work in Wellington, New South Wales. He died in Sydney in 1983.

The Tuilovini papers, which are written in a mixture of English and Fijian, were arranged by Tevita Baleiwaqa in 1987 into the following series:

Reel 1:

1. Miscellaneous correspondence, 1947-75
2. Correspondence re Ecumenism, 1961-68
3. Academic transcript, Drew University, NJ
4. Writings (roneoed and printed), 1948-63
5. Methodist Young People's Department, 1951-63
6. Correspondence and other papers re Wesley F. Pigeon and Inez Hames, 1946-50 and 1982-87

Reel 2:

7. Church and Unity in the South Pacific, STM Thesis, Union Theological Seminary, 1962
8. Typescript sermons, 1952-83 (bulk 1969-83)
9. Church music and hymns, 1960s-82 (bulk 1978-82)
10. Notebooks (2), 1971-72
11. Diary, 1975

Reel 3:

12. Very detailed diary, 1982 (in Fijian)
13. Correspondence and printed material re Setareki's time in Australia, 1979-83
14. Devotional material for Sydney house groups (roneoed and typescript), c.1980-82
15. Transcripts of oral history interviews about Tuilovoni conducted by Tevita Baleiwaqa, 1986
16. Setareki Akeai Tuilovoni and the Young People's Department of the Methodist Church in Fiji (1951-1967) by Tevita Baleiwaqa, Bachelor of Divininty Thesis, Pacific Theological College, 1987

Eastman and his wife Winifred (nee Grimwade, married 1914) ran the London Missionary Society Mission in Rarotonga from 1913 to 1918 and the LMS Gilbert Islands Mission from 1918 to 1947. The Gilbert Islands Mission, which was based at Rongorongo on the island of Beru included the Ellice Islands, Nauru, Ocean Island and the Phoenix Islands. Eastman, who was awarded an OBE in 1946, retired to Swanage, Dorset in 1949. For further information see Norman Goodall, A History of the London Missionary Society, 1895-1945 (OUP, 1954) <BR>and John Garrett, Ways across the ocean in Bernard Thorogood (ed.), Gales of Change: responding to a shifting missionary context: the story of the London Missionary Society, 1945-77 (Geneva, 1994) pp.188-190. See also PMB 478 for Eastman's Rarotongan-English Dictionary, 1918.

Reel 1: Personal correspondence, 1914-69.
Reel 2: Cook Islands - newsclippings, typescripts and pamphlets, 1914-18.
Mss of Notes on Rarotongan Grammar, 1913.
Personal notebook, 1918-46.
Gilbert Islands Mission reports and newsletters, 1918-47.
Reel 3: Gilbert Islands Mission financial and administrative papers, 1918-50 and papers on education, 1922-48.
Reel 4: Sermons in English and Gilbertese: Old Testament, 1917-47, New Testament, 1918-22.
Reel 5: Sermons - New Testament, 1923-44.
Reel 6: Sermons - New Testament, 1945-47 (undated sermons at end of sequence)
Reels 6-7: Research material on the history, culture and flora of the Gilbert Islands, including mss and typescript extracts and transcripts from other sources, printed and roneoed documents, notes, drafts and maps.
Reel 7: 1922 mss transcript/revision of an English/Gilbertese vocubulary originally compiled by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Reels 7-8: Mss working draft of an English Gilbertese vocabulary assembled by Eastman.
Reel 8: 1948 typescript draft of Eastman's published English/Gilbertese vocabulary. 170 photographs taken in the Cook Islands and the Gilbert Islands.
Reels 8-11: 48 books and pamphlets printed in Samoa and the Gilbert Islands, 1892-1978. 38 of these publications are in Gilbertese, three are in Rarotongan and the remainder are in English. A complete inventory of publications filmed is available.

See Finding aids for details.

A detailed inventory is available.

1. Official Diocesan records, consisting chiefly of correspondence, financial records and reports. The records document the full range of the activities of the Catholic Church in the Cook Islands, including such matters as: relations with the Holy See; regional relations with the Delegations Apostolic in Sydney and Wellington, with CEPAC (Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici) and with neighbouring Dioceses; parish activities; diocesan management and personnel; Catholic education in the islands; theological and liturgical matters; the activities of the lay apostolate and youth clubs; relations with the civil government of the Cook Islands; relations with the Netherlands Province and with the Marist Fathers; relations with other Christian Churches; relations with international mission aid societies; and records of church property. (Reels 1-49 and Reel 11A)
2. Dictionary, Rarotongan/Dutch, by Mgr Ubald Lehman, vol. 2, c.1940s. (Reel 49)
3. Parish registers of baptisms, marriages, deaths, confirmations and school enrolment, 1894-1993. (Reels 50-51)
4. Diaries of Mgr Bernadine Castanie, 1921-39 (in French) and of Bishop Ubald Lehman, 1939-48 (in Dutch). (Reel 52).
   See Finding aids for details.

In early 1942 Len Odgers was employed as a clerk in the New Guinea Administration and was based at Wewak.

1. Handwritten diary which initially describes events in Wewak and Angoram in early 1942 at the time of the approach of the Japanese military forces. Unwilling to risk a maritime escape from the approaching Japanese, a party of eight European men undertook an overland evacuation to the Papuan coast. The party, under the leadership of Jack Thurston, departed Timbunki on the Sepik River on 14 April, proceeding up river on the vessel Thetis. On 28 April the party left the Thetis and proceeded up the May River by canoe. On 8 May the party commenced walking and arrived in the Telefomin Valley on 25 May. In late July they arrived at the Fly River where they built canoes and floated down river to the Papuan coast. On 24 September they arrived at Daru, almost six months after their departure from Angoram. The diary concludes in October 1942.
2. Typescript transcript of the diary, complete with an introduction, prepared by Odgers in April 1943.

Jim Ross was an officer of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) during World War II. Based initially at Samarai/Milne Bay in East Papua, in July 1943 he was transferred to Kikori in the Purari District of Western Papua. In July 1944 Ross was again transferred, this time to Kairuku, Yule Island, in the Gulf of Papua. For further information see Ross' autobiography My First Seventy Years (1990).

1. Lists of evacuees from Samarai, December 1941.
2. 10 letters/memoranda relating to Ross' work for ANGAU, 1941-45.
3. Diaries: 1942; 1944; and January-August 1945.
4. Minute book including handwritten and typed drafts of patrol reports for the Samarai/Milne Bay District, February 1942 - May 1943 and for the Purari District, August-December 1943.
5. Ledger book containing rough drafts of patrol reports for the Purari District, 1944. Includes a map of the Purari Distrcit patrol number 13/44.
6. Day book containing newspaper clippings on the war in Papua New Guinea.
7. Photograph album containing wartime photographs of Samarai, Port Moresby, Daru, Kikori and Purari. The photographs include views of Samarai burning as a result of Japanese bombing, native dress and ceremonies, houses, barracks and other scenes.

The papers are in 19 folders numbered A800 - A818.

Reel 1:<BR>A800; Model deed for lease of land by Wesleyan Church, 1875<BR>A801; Testimonial to Rev. G. Minns from people of Ha'apai and Vava'u, 1880-81<BR>A802; Lists of missionaries, 1826-56, 1826-1926; examination report on T. Adams; marriage certificate, Olling/Lane; constitution of Free Church; proclamation re foreign affairs; death certificate, S.W. Baker; will of J.C. Moulton; invitation to unveiling of memorial to J.E. Moulton; extract from Tupou College report, 1920<BR>A803; Extract from journal of Rev. G. Minns (Poem by L. Fison)<BR>A804-812; Papers relating to Wesleyan-Free Church conflict 1885-1890<BR>A813-814; Reports of court cases at Ha'apai, 1885-1886<BR>

Reel 2:<P>A815; Police court summonses against Wesleyans 1886<BR>A816; Land agreements, memos of trust meetings, notes on accounts etc. 1883-1924<BR>A817; Permission to attend government schools; proclamation re British protections; Synod minutes 1921; etc.<BR>A818; Papers re constitution and land ownership<BR>

Papers re transfer of Solomon Islands district to Methodist Church of New Zealand in 1922

2. Papers re land matters, 1922 (Solomon Islands)
3. Synod Report, 1922; financial statements, 1922; first annual board meeting, Methodist Missionary Society of New Zealand, 1922
4. List of board members, 1924; accounts and estimates, 1924-25

Mgr Collomb, of the Society of Mary, was Bishop of Antipheles and Vicar Apostolic of Melanesia and Micronesia

The journal is in three exercise books:

Vol.1: November 1845 - March 1847, includes voyage from Europe to Sydney
Vol.2: April 1847 to Collomb's death in July 1848. It includes an account of the abandonment of the Marist mission at San Cristobal, 3 November 1847, and the arrival at Woodlark Island, 15 November 1847; also the division of the missionaries, 9 May 1848, with Montrouzier, Thomassin and Bro. Aristide remaining on Woodlark, and Collomb, Fremont, Villien and Bro. Optat starting a mission on Rook (Umboi) Island.
Vol.3: A collection of copies of letters and an account of events remembered by Collomb beginning April 1847. (Collomb mislaid his journal for a time and believed it lost. He tried to reconstruct it from memory. Then the journal was found and continued.)