Peter Parfitt was born in England, the son of Captain William Parfitt, a commander of the P & O Company. In January 1865, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Bank of New Zealand in London. In 1867, he was posted to the Auckland office of his bank as chief clerk, and five years later he was promoted to pro-accountant of the bank in Melbourne. In November 1882, he married Hattie Lord, whose mother was a member of the Colgate toothpaste family. On 4 September 1883, Parfitt, accompanied by his wife, sailed from Melbourne to Sydney to take up an appointment as manager of the Bank of New Zealand in Levuka, Fiji.

The diary covers Parfitt's three years in the Pacific as manager of the Bank of New Zealand in Levuka, Fiji.