The world-wide merchant marine is a crucial source of employment for i-Kiribati and remittances from this work are fundamental to the Republic’s economic well-being. The inaugural meeting of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Overseas Seamen’s Union was held on 22 Dec 1971. In January 1976 the organisation changed its name to the Gilbert Islands and Tuvalu Overseas Seamen’s Union and then, in 1979, to the Kiribati Islands and Tuvalu Overseas Seamen’s Union following the declaration of the independent republic of Kiribati. The name was changed to the Kiribati Islands Overseas Seamen’s Union in 1994. There were major changes in leadership in 1994 and again in 1996 when the current leadership was elected.

The Union’s archives are kept in a cupboard near the back door of the KIOSU office, a single story office building in the port of Betio. The main series of archives consist of:
<LI>Executive Committee minutes, 1988-95;</LI>
<LI>copies of minutes, 1981, 1985-96;</LI>
<LI>the KIOSU newsletter, 1984, 1987-1995;</LI>
<LI>correspondence register, 1974-1977;</LI>
<LI>membership register, 1974 +;</LI>
<LI>records of international and local seminars and conferences.</LI>
<b><P>See reel list for further details</b>

Jack Read joined the Australian administration of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea as a Cadet in 1929. He worked as Patrol Officer in most parts of the Territory, having covered New Britain and the mainland from the Sepik River to the Morobe Goldfields, but had not been located in Bougainville until his appointment in November 1941 as Assistant District Officer in charge of the Buka Passage Sub-District, under District Officer Merrylees. Following the Japanese entry into the War on 8 Dec 1941, Read helped evacuate most European residents from Buka, established inland dumps of emergency provisions and shifted his administration to Bougainville island just before a Japanese attack on the Sub-District HQ on Sohano island on 24 January 1942. Following the winding up of civil administration in February 1942, Read, the only remaining government representative, was appointed Lieutenant in the Australian Navy under Lt Commander Feldt with instructions to remain in Bougainville as a coastwatcher.

Photocopy of original typescript. Parts I-XI and appendices A-L, includes detailed contents list; Ts., foolscap, 148pp. Appendix M, ‘Map of Bougainville’, missing. Front sheet signed by Jack Read and dated 9 July 1974.

See also PMB Doc 317 - PMB Doc 321

Press releases for 1973

Previous sessions were microfilmed on PMB Doc 297-299 and PMB Doc 328.

Session 25, 11-15 December 1973

See also:
• Anne Chambers, Nanumea, University of Auckland (1984);
• K.S. Chambers, Heirs of Tefolaha: Tradition and social organization in Nanumea, a Polynesian atoll community (politics, ethnohistory; oceania), Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley (1984).
• Anne Chambers, Reproduction in Nanumea, Tuvalu : an ethnography of fertility and birth (1986)
• K.S. Chambers and A.F. Chambers, Unity of heart: culture and change in a Polynesian atoll society (c.2001);

Genealogical charts based on information from the Nanumea Pule Kaupule (Nanumea Community Elders), Chart Nos.1-10, 10a, 11-31.

Barry Mitcalfe, who died in 1986, envisaged a new group, the Peace Media Organisation, having two distinct thrusts. One was to engage in peace research and the other was to demonstrate to the world the strength of New Zealand’s opposition to French testing in the Pacific and peoples’ longing for a peaceful world. (Mitcalfe’s papers are held at the University of Canterbury Library.) The documents microfilmed record NZ press reactions to the protest voyages of the Fri and <i>Greenpeace III</i> (formerly Vega) in 1973. The Pacific Peace Odyssey documentation includes minutes of a Greenpeace NZ meeting on 25 Sep 1974 attended by Irene Peterson, Bruce Peterson, David Moodie, Betty Johnson, Elaine Shaw and Wendy Armstrong.

• Peace Media Organisation, Press cuttings, Feb-Dec 1973: Vol.1, 21 Feb-23 Jun 1973; Vol.2, 23 Jun-3 Oct 1973; Vol.3, 7 Sep-13 Dec 1973.
• Greenpeace New Zealand Pacific Peace Odyssey, Apr 1974-Jun 1976, conceived by Barry Mitcalfe, undertaken by David Moodie in the vessel, <i>Fri</i>. Documentation compiled by Gabby Putnoki and Peter Smith in January 2004.
• Greenpeace. A scrapbook compiled by the crew of the <i>Rainbow Warrior I</i> between March and June 1985 while transferring 260 Marshallese forced to leave their homeland of Rongelap Atoll to resettle on Majuro Atoll, 160km away.

See also PMB Doc 464: <i>Greenpeace New Zealand Newsletter</i>, 1974-2004.

The British government had sent out town planners to Funafuti in 1960 to guide development of the increasing crowded urban settlement and in 1973, following a major cyclone, it constructed new housing at Funafuti. By 1993, when George Clarke visited Tuvalu to carry out his survey, the Tuvalu government was lobbying for new houses. George Clarke, is an architect and town planner by profession, who has worked as a consultant on human settlements for the World Bank, United Nations, AusAID and others. He was concerned about the slumming down of Pacific communities and consequent health decay. His report addressses these problems and tries to stimulate cultural revival and eco-tourism. (George Clarke’s father, William Clarke, had helped established the Bita-paka wireless station, near Rabaul, in 1924 and subsequently became Manager of AWA Australia-Pacific Radio, making many trips back to New Guinea.)

• David Ball, 'Funafuti physical development plan', 1973.
• Simeona Iosia and Sheila Macrae, 'A Report on the Results of the Census of the Population of Tuvalu', 1979.
• Lars Carlstedt, 'Consultancy Report on Land Title Registration in Tuvalu 1984.'
• T.J. Bell, 'Tuvalu: Road Improvements and Maintenance', Funafuti Atoll, 1987.
• Government of Tuvalu, Housing Task Force. Working Papers, 1992.
• George Clarke, 'Life and Living in Tuvalu: steps towards sustainable strategies with particular reference to housing, infrastructure and land use', 1993.

See Finding aids for details.

See PMB 617

Reel 1: 1 January - 25 February<BR>Reel 2: 26 February - 22 April<BR>Reel 3: 23 April - 24 June<BR>Reel 4: 25 June - 3 September<BR>Reel 5: 4 - 30 September<BR>Reel 6: 1 October - 15 November<BR>Reel 7: 16 November - 31 December

See PMB 617

Reel 1: 1 January - 5 March<BR>Reel 2: 6 March - 10 May<BR>Reel 3: 11 May - 14 July<BR>Reel 4: 15 July - 4 September<BR>Reel 5: 5 September - 31 October<BR>Reel 6: 1 November - 31 December<BR>NOTE: includes some clippings on Nauru, Norfolk Island and other Australian territories under the control of the Minister for (External) Territories.