Sixteen letters from Dr Walter Mersh Strong to Gladys de Groen, Alan de Groen's sister, about his Port Moresby domestic affairs and visits to Australia, one accompanied by Papua Medical College students. Others deal with the purchase of a tobacco plantation in 1934 from Beatrice Grimshaw, Strong's period as Acting Lieutenant Governor (Feb-March 1936) and his time in ANGAU. There are also five letters from Alan de Groen containing his personal comments about his career in the Health and Treasury Departments and as Boarding Inspector. The last section of the microfilm includes photographs, press clippings and a short story.

Part 1: 15 letters from Dr W.M. Strong to Gladys de Groen 1926-1944 including: references to the plantation 'MacDhui'; Government Gazette nos 1, 2, 4 and 5 (January 1936); enclosures from the National Geographic Society; references to Rigo Government Station and ANGAU.<P>Part 2: 8 letters from Alan and Nin de Groen to Gladys de Groen 1929-1941(?) mostly from Port Moresby, one from Daru and one during service with ANGAU.<P>Part 3: Gladys de Groen: photographs (unindentified); press clippings - obituary of H.A.C. Bunting; Sir Hubert Murray's report: evil spirits and gold exports; flying boats for PNG; Bulolo River floods; 'Strange stories series', unsigned manuscript, handwriting not that of Gladys de Groen (3p.)

The author was a member of a scientific expedition which visited Easter Island from 29 March 1914 to 18 August 1915. A brief call was also made at Pitcairn Island. The expedition travelled in the yacht Mana. Routledge published an account of the expedition in her book 'The Mystery of Easter Island', London (1919).

Reel 1: Correspondence, 1910-1912; miscellaneous notes; copies of printed accounts of Easter Island, including Rudolf Philippi, 'La Isla de Pascua i su habitantes', Anales de la Universidad de Chile, vol.43, May 1873, pp.365-434, Carl Burckhardt, Traces Geologiques d'un Ancien Continent Pacifique, La Plata, 1900. V.S. Frank, 'A trip to Easter Island', Journ. Franklin Inst., vol.162, No.3, 1906, Philadelphia; Easter Island bibliography; article from Nautical Magazine, 1863, pp.608-614.
Reel 2: Notes on archaeological remains; correspondence with Enrique Merlet, Lessee of Easter Island; Easter Island clans - first list; caves; notes on Easter Island history; census details; vocabulary; maps; genealogies; legends; notes on statues.
Reel 3: Diary, April 1914 - August 1915.
Reel 4: Letter from Lieut. D.R. Ritchie, commander of expedition, to chief of island on stealing of cattle, etc.; preliminary report on the collection of human skulls and bones from Easter Island by Arthur Keith, 1 Sept. 1916; notes on exterior quarries; reviews of The Mystery of Easter Island;newspaper clippings re expedition; photographs; catalogues of objects obtained on Easter Island by the expedition.

The compilation of this index was sponsored by the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. It does not claim to be exhaustive. References taken from other indexes and reference books have not been checked.

The index is in alphabetical order by ship. It gives the captain's name; description of vessel; period of voyage; the location of published and unpublished accounts; and the vessel's itinerary, particularly in the Pacific Islands.

Reel 1: Acheron to Ringdove
Reel 2.: Rocket to Zebra

The accounts, by various authors, are as follows:

(1) 'Histoire de Rotuma' by Fr Joseph Trouillet, SM. This is in three exercise books covering the periods: a. 'Depuis l'origine des temps fabuleux jusqu'au retour des Missionaires Catholiques, l'an 1868'. b. 'Depuis le retour des Catholiques en 1868 jusqua l'annexion en Juin 1881'. c. 'Depuis Juin 1881-la fin de 1890'.
(2) The foregoing 'Histoire de Rotuma' contained in two exercise books labelled 'Ier Cahier' and 'II Cahier'.
(3) A journal kept on Rotuma from 1868 to 1871 by Fr L. Dezest, SM (one exercise book labelled 'Journal, Ier Cahier').
(4) A journal kept on Rotuma from 1868 to 1890 first by Fr Dezest, then by Fr Trouillet. (Three exercise books labelled: 'Journal II Cahier,' 'Journal III Cahier' and 'Journal IV Cahier').
(5) An account of Rotuma in about 1824 in Domeny de Rienzi's 'Oceanie', translated by Dr Hugh Macdonald (typescript).
(7) An account entitled 'La Premiere Soeur Missionaire a Rotuma' (roneoed).
(8) 'Historique de la Station St Michel, Upu, Rotuma', dated 7 April 1949, and signed by L. Soubeyran.
(9) 'Historique de la Station Notre Dame des Victoires, Sumi, Rotuma', dated 28 April 1949.
(10) Rotuma Brothers' School - Extracts from Council Decisions, 1901-08.
(11) Newspaper clippings, 1917, 1932.

An index to manuscript material in the Roman Catholic Archdiocesan Office, Suva, Fiji (reels 159/160; 428/429 and 432-468) was published in the Bureau's newsletter 'Pambu' April-June 1972: 27, pp. 17-20 and is available from the Bureau on request.

The Rev. Joseph Johnston (1814-1892) left England for Tahiti as a missionary of the London Missionary Society in the ship 'Camden' in April 1838. He reached Tahiti in the following March, and served there until late 1849. In Tahiti he married Miss Harriet Platt, daughter of the Rev. George Platt. After his return to England in May 1850, he went to Fremantle, Western Australia, as a Congregational minister. He died there in 1892.

The microfilm contains the following documents:

• Diary kept in the Camden en route to Tahiti, 26 April-28 October 1838.
• A history and impression of Tahiti, with a narrative of the voyage in the Camden, 1838.
• Diaries kept in Tahiti, 8 November -14 December 1838; 28 May-6 November 1839; and 6 January-30 December 1840.
• Diary kept in the Camden during a tour of LMS mission stations in the Pacific, 16 March-19 July 1842.
• Diaries kept in Tahiti 2 March-26 March and 11 April-26 May 1839.
• Diaries kept in Tahiti, on return voyage to England, on voyage to Western Australia, and in Western Australia, July 1844-August 1852.
• Diaries kept in England, on voyage to Western Australia and in Fremantle, 1852-55, 1864-68, 1869-71.
• Letter from Johnston to Mr Gallop, dated Fremantle, 25 December 1884.
• Reminiscences of Mrs S.F. Moore (nee Eliza Mary Johnston), Johnston's daughter.

• Orders of the day of the Commanding Officer, Iles Sous le Vent, Society Islands, January-February, 1897.
• Miscellaneous documents on Huahine and Raiatea, 1879-1891.
• Notes on the ethnology of the Marquesas Islands by C. Noury, Capitaine de Fregate, Commandant of the Nukuhiva station, November 2, 1849. (Human sacrifice and The Origin of Fire in Marquesan and French).
• Documents on the ethnology of the Society Islands gathered by C.F. Lavaud, Capitaine de Vaisseau, Commissaire de la Republique, Society Islands - dated July 16, 1849, and September 20, 1849 (Tahitian and French).
• Genealogy of Ma'i, by Rene Calinaud, magistrate, Papeete, July 23, 1966.
• Report on a mission to the Gambier Islands by Cdt. de la Motte Rouge, February, 1871.
• Letters on the smallpox epidemic at Nukuhiva and Uapou, Marquesas, 1863. (Originals in Bishop Museum, Honolulu).
• The Old Orsmond Manuscript.
• Legend of the Lizard Mo'orea by the Chief of Mai'ao (French and local language).
• Letter of Commandant Maxime Destremau, December 2, 1914. (Destremau was the commander of the French warship 'Zelee' when the German raiders 'Scharnhorst' and 'Gneisenau' bombarded Papeete on September 22, 1914).
• An official document thanking the men who rescued the victims of the German raider 'Seeadler' from Mopelia Atoll in 1917.
• Notes on the inland route from Papenoo to Mataiea, Tahiti, by M. Jay.
• Report on lands owned by the Pomare Family, compiled by a secretary of Queen Pomare IV (in Tahitian).
• Legends of the Society Islands and other papers.
• Useful plants of Tahiti, by Edouard Butteaud.

Father Paul Fastre, M.S.C. (born 1880), was a member of the Roman Catholic Mission in Western Papua, whose headquarters are at Yule Island. His notes were completed in 1937.

Notes on the customs of the Fujuges (English Fuyuges) people of the Mt. Scratchley-Chirima River area of the Central and Northern Districts of Papua New Guinea. Principally:

• Ceremonies, dances and songs, including the major ceremony, Le Gabe;
• Warfare;
• Chiefs (Utumi);
• Engagement and marriage;
• Conception and childbirth;
• Naming;
• Nose-piercing;
• Illness;
• Funerals and mourning;
• Treatment of murderers;
• Beliefs and cults;
• Magic;
• Legends;
• Property; and
• Fishing, hunting and agriculture.