Frank Miller was born on Banaba in 1920. His father, John Robert Miller, was employed as a carpenter, and later as a Foreman of Works, at Banaba from 1908 till 1939, with a break to serve with the First New Zealand Regiment during World War I. His mother, Beatrice Amy Miller, lived on Banaba from 1918 till 1939. His sister, Joy Miller (Mrs Talyor) was employed in the British Phosphate Commission office on Banaba. John Miller designed and built the Alexandra Theatre on Banaba where he and Beatrice Miller performed in many productions. He was also the first licensee for the film theatre at Nauru.

<LI>Banaba / Ocean Island theatre, dance and sports programmes
and related memorabilia, 1908-1939</LI>
<LI>“Banaba” photograph album holding photographs of Banabans, Europeans, the Miller family and British Phosphate Commission operations, 1909-1939.<P><B>See reel list for further details</B>

In 1945 the Australian Army, with the approval of General Blamey, established the Land Headquarters, School of Civil Affairs, in the grounds of the Military College, Duntroon, to train officers for the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit. In March 1946, the School became a civil institution, named The Australian School of Pacific Administration, and was transferred to Georges Heights, Mosman, NSW, and later to Middle Head. ASOPA was given statuatory recognition under the Papua New Guinea Act in 1949 and continued to function as a responsibility of the Minister for External Territories till 1 December 1973 when the International Training Institute came into existence as a result of the Australian Government’s decision to integrate ASOPA into the structure of the Australian Development Assistance Agency (later AIDAB), under the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

This collection of documents was compiled in the ASOPA Library and, on closure of that Library, the documents were transferred to the AusAid Library which made them available to the Bureau. The collection consists of reports, minutes of some ASOPA Council meetings, correspondence and other internal documents relating to the School’s administration, courses, staff, reviews and restructures. There are also some documents relating to aspects of Australian administration in PNG and the Northern Territory.<B><P>See reel list for further details</B>

A history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Tongan Building Program. Covers the period 1955-59 in Tonga.

Fr Johannes J. Tschauder SVD was ordained in 1936 and joined the Divine Word Mission in New Guinea in December 1937. He was parish priest on Karkar island from 1938 until 1943 when he was captured by the Japanese. He worked in parishes in Australia from 1944 until 1949 and then in Ulingan on the Madang coast from 1949 until 1955. Fr Tschauder took sick leave in Europe from 1955 until 1958 and then returned to New Guinea as parish priest at Tabele on Manam Island. He taught at Holy Spirit Seminary, both when it was in Madang and at Bomana, from 1963 until his retirement in 1977. In retirement at the Madang Archdiocesan headquarters, Fr Tschauder undertook translation work and built a collection of German materials from PNG settlement, together with first draft translations into English. These papers have now been incorporated in the archival holdings at the Noser Library at the Divine Word University.

Papers written by Fr John J. Tschauder; diaries and notebooks of Fr Tschauder, 1937-46; correspondence of Fr Tschauder, 1937-1954; personal papers and manuscripts collected by Fr Tschauder (including Fr. Appollinaris Anova-Ataba, Fr. Cornelius van Barr, Br. David Brummer, Br. Willie Cherubim Kaufmann, Fr Heinrich Luttmer, Fr. J. Nilles, Fr. James Noss, Fr. Alphons Schaefer, Fr. Stefanski, Sr. Vinciana, Eugene Weber, Fr. Francis Winzenhärlein); subject files on the SVD Mission in New Guinea and Christianity in the Pacific to 1990; files on colonial administrations in New Guinea, 1880-1982; papers on the Divine Word (SVD) Mission in New Guinea, 1994-96; papers on the Madang and Sepik regions, 1913-88; translations from German to English of anthroplogical works on New Guineans; translations from German official publications of reports, articles and notes on New Guinea, 1895-1915. See Finding aids for details.<P><B>See reel list for further details</B>

Sarea Kiri commenced employment with the PNG Administration in 1970. He completed course work at the Administrative College and the Local Government Staff College, Vunadidir, in 1970 and1971. Mr Sarea commenced duty as a Patrol Officer at the Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Enga District, in 1972. He transferred to the Milne Bay District in 1974.

Records gathered in support of Mr Kiri’s application for the position of Losuia District Administrator, including documentation of the Enga District Localisation Sub-Committeee and some routine police matters at Wapenamanda, 1972-73, part of the Wapenamanda annual report 1972/73, and the following patrol reports by Mr Kiri:
<LI>Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.5 of 1971-72 to Middle Lai.</LI>
<LI>Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.8 of 1971/72 to Middle Lai and Tshak.</LI>
<LI>Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.3 of 1972/73 to Tshak.</LI>
<LI>Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.6 of 1972/73 to Middle Lai (Pompabos).</LI>
<LI>Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.7 of 1972/73 to Tchak.</LI>
<LI>Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.11 of 1972/73 to Tchak.</LI>
<LI>Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.15 of 1972/73 to Tchak.</LI>
<LI>Laiagam Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.17 of 1972/73 to Lake Sirunki.</LI>
<LI>Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.21 of 1972/73 to Lower Lai.</LI>
<LI>Wapenamanda Sub-District Office, Patrol Report No.5 of 1973/74 to Tambitanis Area.</LI>
<LI>Tagula Station, Bwagaoia Sub-District, Milne Bay District, Patrol Report No.3 of 1974/75 to Rossel Island.</LI>
<LI>Tagula Station, Bwagaoia Sub-District, Milne Bay District, Patrol Report No.5 of 1974/75 to Sudest Island.</LI>
<LI>Alotau Sub-District, Milne Bay District, Patrol Report No.4 of 1976/77 to Tavara.</LI>

Gerald Brown took employment in Port Moresby in 1936 working first in the Burns Philp butchery and freezer department and later as a clerk in the Lands Department. He was appointed Patrol Officer by the Papuan Administration in 1937. Gerald’s brother, Jack, was a Medical Assistant at the same time in Papua. Jack Brown later qualified as a doctor and practised in PNG. Gerald married Marjorie Kathleen Thom in Port Moresby on 31 January 1940. Their daughter, Helen, was born in February 1941. Both she and her mother were evacuated south in November 1941. Gerald was transferred into ANGAU and patrolled in Popondeta, Awala, Ilimo and Kokoda in March 1942. He was appointed Warrant Officer at Rigo in July 1942 and later promoted to Captain. He was at Awala in Aug 1942 when the Japanese landed there and was hospitalised in Port Moresby in September with malaria and malnutrition after 42 days in the mountains.

When civil administration was restored in PNG the family were reunited and Gerald resumed duty as an Inspector of Native Labour attached to the Headquarters of the newly formed Department of Labour in Madang. He was New Britain District Labour Officer based in Rabaul from March 1948 till December 1949. From July 1950 till January 1951 he was New Ireland District Labour Officer based in Kavieng. In 1951 Gerald was appointed senior Inspector of Labour in the Morobe District based in Lae and residing at Malahang nearby. The family remained in Lae where Helen contracted polio in 1958 and moved south with her mother. In 1959 Gerald was posted to Port Moresby where his wife, Marjorie joined him in 1960. Helen returned to Port Moresby in 1964 where she worked as a clerk in the Departments of Health and Trade & Industry. Gerald retired in May 1965 and moved south with Marjorie to the Central Coast of NSW.

Gerald Brown’s wartime papers, including his diary written at Popendetta, Awala, Ilimo and Kokoda, 21 Mar-27 Jul 1942. Brown’s personal files which include a copy of his report of his patrol in the Chirima Valley, Jun 1942, Dobuduru inspection reports, plantation and native labour surveys, Dec 1944-Jan 1945, Brown’s first monthly report from Dobuduru, Feb 1945, and many other documents relating to labour matters in PNG as well as Brown’s own career in the TPNG Department of Labour as an Inspector of Native Labour, 1946-1965. Brown’s correspondence with his brothers, Jack Brown, Medical Assistant, PNG, and Dermot Brown, 1936-1952. Photographs taken in Port Moresby, Rabaul, Kavieng, Malahang and Lae, 1937-1965.

See reel list for further details.

The Union is the oldest and most successful of the blue collar unions in PNG. The union had its origins in the ethnically based welfare societies formed in Port Moresby in the late 1950s. Waterside workers were also active in the PNG Workers’ Association and its successor the Port Moresby Workers’ Association in the 1960s. The Central District Waterside Workers’ Union was established at a public meeting in Port Moresby on 24 July 1968 and registered under the PNG Industrial Organisations Ordinance on 28 January 1969. Between 1977 and 1980 the CDWWU embarked on a series of amalgamations with the Overseas Seamen’s Union, the Rabaul Workers’ Association, the Madang Waterside Workers’ Union and the Lae Stevedoring Union. The amalagamated union, the PNG Waterside Workers’ and Seamen’s Union, the first national private sector union in Papua New Guinea, was registered on 8 January 1980. The name of the organisation was changed to the Papua New Guinea Maritime Workers Industrial Union on 18 October 1993. (See Michael Hess, <I>Unions Under Economic Development: private sector unions in PNG</I>, Oxford University Press, 1992.)

<LI>Port Moresby Council of Trade Unions, Submission to the Urban Minimum Wages Board. Ts., roneo, 228pp., Aug 1974;</LI>
<LI>PNG Maritime Workers Industrial Union, Circulars to National Executive Council Members and Branch Presidents, Jun 1991-Jul 1997;</LI>
<LI>Press cuttings on industrial matters in Papua New Guinea, 1970-1990;</LI>
<LI>Further press cuttings on industrial matters in PNG, n.d.;</LI>
<LI>Rough list of non-current files held in the PNG Maritime Workers Industrial Union’s Port Moresby office in May 1994 and since destroyed, May 1994</LI><P><b>See reel list for further details</b>

William Charles Groves (1898-1967) was a Supervisor of Education in
Mandated Territory of New Guinea from 1922 till 1926. He carried out
anthropological work in the Western Pacific, including New Guinea,
from 1931 till 1936, as a Research Fellow with the Australian National
Research Council. He was Director of Education in Nauru from 1937
till 1938 and Advisor on Education in the Solomon Islands from 1939
till 1940. After World War II he was appointed Director of Education
in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (TPNG) and remained in that
post till 1958.

The W C Groves Papers were arranged and calendared by John A.
Collier in 1972 in eight parts: 1. Mission education in Melanesia; 2. Papua New Guinea Pre-War; 3. Papua New Guinea Port-War; 4. Nauru; 5. Correspondence and Miscellaneous; 6. South Pacific Commission; 7. Honolulu Conference, 1936; 8. Photographs in the Collection. Parts 2-4 are microfilmed here by the Bureau, together with John Collier’s, Guide to the Groves Papers. <P><B>See reel list for further details</B>

A Sub-Station was first establised at Losuia in the South Eastern Division of British New Guinea (later Papua) in 1904. It was rebuilt in 1910 and continued to operate right through World War II till the present. In March 1950 the Papuan Eastern and South Eastern Divisions were merged to create the Milne Bay District. In 1978 the Milne Bay District acquired Provincial status.
The Losuia District Administration covers the northern part of the Milne Bay Province with the mass of the population residing at Kiriwina, Kitava and Murua (Woodlark) Islands. It had two administrative centres, one at Losuia on the island of Kiriwina and a subsidiary centre at Guasopa on the island of Murua.
Local Government Council were established at Kiriwina and Murua. As a consequence of the Kabisawali Movement, the Kiriwina LGC was abandonded in 1990 and replaced by a Kiriwina Community Government constituted under Milne Bay Provincial charter. The Community Government includes a council of traditional chiefs who are regarded as an “Upper House”.

Selected Losuia Distict Administration files, including: economic development, including agriculture, cooperatives, tourism, fisheries and forestry, 1956-92; customs and chiefs, 1927-84; education, 1961-89; Milne Bay Area Authority, 1972-78; Kiriwina Local Government, 1959-93; patrol reports, 1969-94; annual reports, 1969-91 (gaps); social and political development, 1962-89. File lists and indexes. See also PMB 1177.<P><B>See reel list for further details</B>

Pacific Conference No.4 of the ICFTU/APRO held in Port Moresby in 1987 resolved that the ICFTU consider establishing a structure within the ICFTU that would provide a forum for the South Pacific and have an Oceanic identity. The conference also resolved that the ICFTU/APRO education program in the region should be expanded so that there was greater ability to plan and implement activities at the local level. As a result of those decisions the ICFTU/APRO education project was established in June 1988 with the appointment of a full-time educator. The project operated from a Brisbane office, located in the Queensland ACTU building. ICFTU/APRO Regional Conference No.14 held in Bangkok in 1988 endorsed the formation of specific structure for the South Pacific, including the appointment of a full-time executive officer to work alongside the project educator. It was resolved that an inaugural conference would be convened to formalise the establishment of the new body which replaced the Pacific Trade Union Forum and became known as the South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions (SPOCTU).
SPOCTU operated as the peak council of the trade union movement in the Pacific Islands, representing affiliated organisations in Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Australia. Conferences were held every two years and an intensive program of training workshops was undertaken, often in conjunction with the Pacific office of the Commonwealth Trade Union Council.

• Minutes of SPOCTU Conferences and Steering Committees meetings (ACTU copies), 1989-1999.
• ICFTU/APRO, Pacific Trade Union Forum and SPOCTU steering Committees, Conferences and Projects files, 1987-1998.
• Commonwealth Trade Union Council, Pacific Trade Union Education Liaison Committee: meetings, 1992-1996.
• SPOCTU Country files: Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Cook Islands, 1992-1998.
• SPOCTU Circulars to affiliates, 1990-1998.
See Finding aids for details.
See also Pacific Unionist, 1989-1998, at PMB Doc 553.