Ian McCallum Mack (1900-1933), born at Jan Juc, Victoria, was the great-grandson of the pioneer settler, Joseph Gardner Mack and great-great-grandson of the First Fleet surgeon, William Balmain. He was appointed as a Patrol Officer in 1926, stationed at Kokopo and later Talasea. In 1931 he was transferred to the Morobe District and in June 1933, while Acting District Officer, he was attacked by a group of escaped prisoners in the village of Aimontina, Upper Ramu. Severely wounded by arrows, he was taken to Salamaua Hospital where he died on 18 June 1933.

The collection consists of 21 Reports bound into two folders. The first folder contains 20 Reports (a total of 255 pages) covering the areas: Central Bainings; Biag Biag River; Kaliai Sub-District; French Island Group; East Nakanai; West Nakanai; Kilengi; Sahe; Bariai; Wariai; Kaliai; Sub Divisions D & E of Gasmata; Pulie River; Siassi Islands; Wide Bay; Waterfall & Jacquinot Bays; Sub District A of Gasmata; Unea Island, Witu Group; Kombe; Lolo; Lamogai; Biblings. The second folder (182 pages) covers the Western Sub-Divisions of Talasea and unknown country between the Itni River and the Wariai coast. Some of the pages are damaged and in many cases page numbers may be confusing, i.e. the same page number has been used twice. In addition to routine activities of collecting Head Tax, checking or taking census and generally reporting on native conditions, Mack was required to bring natives under government control. Report number 21, the second folder, contains his diary, hand-drawn maps and 45pp of linguistic material as well as general observations on plantations, missions, roads and other aspects of village life. A detailed listing is provided at the beginning of the reel.
See Finding aids for details.