Nigel Oram was an ethnologist and academic. In 1946, after military service in World War II, he read history at Oxford University. This was followed by a career in the British Colonial Service in East Africa and Uganda. In 1961, Oram helped set up the New Guinea Research Unit, Port Moresby, which was an offshoot of the Australian National University. His role was to undertake social research. To facilitate his information gathering, Oram learnt the Motu and Hula languages. In 1969, he was appointed a fellow at the University of Papua New Guinea, where he remained from 1969 to 1975. Oram returned to Australia where he taught history for nine years at La Trobe University and where, upon his retirement, he became an honorary senior research fellow. An extensive collection of Oram’s PNG research papers is held at the National Library of Australia (MS 9436).

The mystery of Guise: conflict between missionaries, colonial administrators and foreign traders during the British New Guinea Protectorate, Ts., 29pp., is a biography of Reginald Edward Guise, grandfather of Sir John Guise, G.C.M.G., K.B.E., Hon. Ll.D., the first Governor-General of the independent state of Papua New Guinea. This version of Nigel Oram’s manuscript dates from sometime after 1994. In the late 1990s Oram’s health went steadily down hill, and completing the manuscript was beyond him. After Oram’s death, Janet Fingleton rescued the manuscript from her father’s computer. Donald Denoon has since worked on an edited version of this paper which is to be submitted to the Journal of Pacific History. This is a complete copy of the existing manuscript, but note that the references and some of the footnotes are missing.

Charles Morris Woodford was born in 1852 and educated at Tonbridge School in England. He settled in Suva about 1882 and from Fiji visited Kiribati (the Gilbert Islands group), as Government agent on the ketch Patience. In 1886, as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society he made the first of three successive explorations of the Solomon Islands, especially Guadalcanal, where he was the first white man to penetrate the interior to any distance, collecting natural history specimens for the British Museum. His experiences are described in his book A Naturalist Among Headhunters (1890). In 1895 Woodford became Acting Consul and Deputy Commissioner at Samoa, and in the following year, a part of the Solomon Group having been made a British Protectorate, he was appointed the first Resident Commissioner, a post which he retained until his retirement in 1914. His later years were spent in Sussex.
Woodford contributed an account of his visit to the Gilbert Islands to The Geographical Journal in 1895, and a note on Ontong Java in 1909. In 1916 he read a paper to the Royal Geographical Society on Polynesian settlements in the Solomon Islands, published in the Journal in 1926. Woodford helped elucidate the narratives of Mandaña’s discovery of the Solomon Islands by identifying places visited by the Spaniards and taking photographs for inclusion in the Hakluyt Society publications. He also published papers in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, of which he was a Fellow.
From The Geographical Journal, 1928, pp.206-207.

This microfilm copy of the Woodford Papers was made by the Bureau (as PMB 150-PMB154) in 1971 when the papers were held for a time at the Department of Pacific History, RSPAS, Australian National University. Since then the microfilm negative has been held under restricted access in the Records Room in the Division of Pacific and Asian History where it has been used from time to time by various scholars. The family of Mr Woodford has now given permission for the microfilm to be released.

The papers are arranged in 30 bundles which are microfilmed in the following order:
Reel 1 – Bundles 2-7.
Reel 2 – Bundles 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18 & 19.
Reel 3 – Bundles 13, 17 & 21.
Reel 4 – Bundles 20, 22, 23, 24 & 25.
Reel 5 – Bundles 27, 29, 30 & 11.
Bundle 1, photographs, have not been microfilmed. No list of the documents in bundles 9, 14, 26 & 28, which have also not been microfilmed, is available at present.

The documents in the bundles are classified in the following 12 series:
Series 1 Diaries
• 1/1 'Journal of a voyage from Suva Fiji to the Gilbert Group and back. From March 4th to June 22nd 1884'.
• 1/2 Diary 16 April - 5 July 1886
• 1/3 Diary 6 Jul-3 Aug 1886
• 1/4 'Diary from 4th August 1886 to November 10th 1886. Chas M. Woodford, F.R.G.S. Gravesend England'.
• 1/5 A revised version of Diary, April - July 1880. Original at 1/2
• 1/6 Diary 24 January - 5 June, 1887.
• 1/7 Diary 7 June - 25 September, 1887.
• 1/8 Diary 16 August 1888 — 3 January 1889.
• 1/9 Diary of part of tour of duty aboard ‘Pylades’ 30 May - 10 Aug. 1896.
• 1/10 Index to diaries 1886-9 and other works of reference.
Series 2 Correspondence
Series 3 History, geography, voyages, expeditions, administration
Series 4 Ethnography and natural history
Series 5 Languages, vocabularies
Series 6 Zoology
Series 7 Reprints
Series 8 British Colonial reports, notices, proclamations, etc.
Series 9 Press cuttings
Series 10 Photographs
Series 11 Sketches, tracings, maps, plans
Series 12 Manuscripts, cards.
See Finding aids for details.

Papers gathered on field research during the political crisis in the Solomon Islands. Some of the results of Dr Scales research have been published, see Ian Scales (2007) “The coup nobody noticed: the Solomon Islands Western State Movement in 2000”, Journal of Pacific History 42(2): 186-209.

Papers arranged in five series.
Series 1/1-36. Papers on the Western State Movement, 1999-2001.
Series 2/1-4. Papers relating to Solomon Islands Government Provincial Government Review Committee.
Series 3/1-11. Report of the State Government Task Force 2001.
Series 4/1-7. Newspaper cuttings related to the Western State Movement 1999-2001.
Series 5/1-2. Additional documents.
See Finding aids for details.

Rev. Isaac Rooney (1843-1931) succeeded Rev. George Brown (1835-1917) as superintendent of the Methodist Mission in New Britain (Duke of York Islands), 1881-1888. The Mission had been established by Rev. Brown in 1875. Rev. Benjamin Danks (1853-1921) had joined Brown in 1878.

Manuscripts, Items 1-7: Photographs, press cuttings and letters to Isaac Rooney from Lorimer Fison and Fred Langham, Aug-Nov 1880.

Printed books, Items 1-15: mainly translations of scriptures into the language of the Duke of York Islands, some with inserts and annotations by Isaac Rooney, 1886-1905; and additional pamphlets by Isaac Rooney, including his essays on Darwinism and the origin of the Lelanesian and Polynesian races (1907), and by W.L.I. Linggood.

See Finding aids for details.
See also PMB 614, George Brown, George, Benjamin Danks and Isaac Rooney, Dictionary and Grammar of the Duke of York Island Language, copy owned and probably annotated by Isaac Rooney.

Solomon Islands languages collection: Manuscripts and old prints collected from Malaita. The Marist missionaries involved in the collection of these documents are:
Father Donatien Coicaud (1884-1957), born in Nantes, France, was in the Solomon Islands from 1912 to 1957. He founded the mission of Buma on Malaita in 1914 from where he was active in the whole of Central and North-Malaita until his death in 1957. He left lots of material behind, among other things on the languages of Langalanga, Kwaio and Lau. He understood Kwara'ae but did not use it much. After his death, Fr. Kamphuis took the material on Lau and other North-Malaita languages, the material on Langalanga and Kwaio stayed in Buma.
Father Christian Kamphuis (1916-2006), born in Oldenzaal, the Netherlands, was in the Solomon Islands from 1947 to 1996. He lived in Takwa, North-East Malaita, from 1948 to 1965 where he worked in the languages of Lau and Baegu'u. He was famous for his knowledge of the Lau language. He lived in Dala from 1972 to 1993 where he learned the Kwara'ae language.
Father Rinaldo Pavese (1886-1955), born in Italy, was in the Solomon Islands from 1910 to 1933, first on San Cristoval and from 1912 in Tangarare, South-West Guadalcanal. He had the reputation of having been an exceptional good Gari speaker.
Father Alois Brugmans (1899-1985), Dutch, was in the Solomon Islands from 1929 to 1942 and in Visale, West-Guadalcanal, 1936- 1942.
Father Jan Snijders (1928---), Dutch, was in the Solomon Islands 1954 to 1970, and in Dala, Kwara'ae, from 1956 to 1967. He was attached to the Marist Headhouse in Rome, 1970-1982, visiting and traveling in the pacific a lot, and then lecturer in philosophy at Holy Spirit Seminary, Bomana, PNG, 1983-1987.

The French Marist priest Donatien Coicaud joined his brother Jean in the Solomon Islands in 1912. In 1914 Donatien founded the mission of Buma, Central Malaita, where he stayed until his death. He was active all over North and Central Malaita. In the 1930's boys from all the villages he visited came to the boarding school in Buma. Father Coicaud taught them to read and write in their own languages and he had them write down the stories they had heard at home, each in his own language. They also at times translated parts of the catechism, Christian doctrine or Bible stories, probably from texts in the Gari language from Guadalcanal. Fr. Coicaud kept the best manuscripts carefully as source material for his study of the Malaita languages. Some were typed out later on. He had also collected other language documents from the other churches active in the area.

After Fr. Donatien's death Father Chris Kamphuis, who worked in North Malaita from 1948 to 1964, inherited the material from the North Malaita language areas. He kept it during the years when he was in Tanagai (Guadalcanal, 1965-1971) and Dala (Kwar’ae, Malaita, l972-1993) and took it with him when he retired to the Netherlands in 1996.

Documents gathered by Fr Jan Snijders and supplied to Dr Darrell Tryon, as follows:
Stories (Histoires) 1-7. “Put together in seven large envelopes just as they have been found among the papers of Father Kamphuis in 2006.” Consisting of word and phrase lists, folktales, customs, etc., in the languages of Lau, Kwara'ae, and others, written by Ben. Lusitaemu, Paulo Misiga, and others.
Docs. 1-4. Documents found among the papers of Fr. Kamphuis: Gari and Kwara'ae dictionaries and Kwara'ae spelling list.
Docs. 5-18. Kwara'ae, Gari, Lau, Malu (To’a Ba’ita) texts (catechism, scriptures, traditions, geography) and Kwara'ae grammars.
See Finding aids for further details.

Alfred William Martin (1844-1928) was born in Clarence Plains, Tasmania, first son of William Martin (1805/6-1878), a convict transported to Tasmania, and Hannah Braim (1825/6-1860). Alfred William Martin was educated at Kettering Grammar School in Northamptonshire while his parents were revisiting England. Returning to Tasmania, Martin became a seaman, despite his good education, firstly on the ship Gem sailing out of Hobart and then, while still in his teens, on a whaler, Southern Cross, Capt. Mansfield, sailing out of Hobart to whaling grounds off New Zealand, NSW, and the New Hebrides. He then sailed on the Thomas Brown, Capt T.H. Brown, a freighter working between Melbourne and Adelaide. Subsequently Martin sailed a schooner, Jeannie Darling, 80 tons, owner Darling formerly a boat builder in Hobart, carrying timber and other goods between Melbourne and Schnapper Point (Mornington).

In Melbourne Martin joined the crew of a Brigantine, El Zéfiro (300 tons, Callao), Capt Manuel Diaz Garcias of Peru, smuggling opium to the China trade via Gilolo Island, Surigao and Manila; smoking bêche-de-mer at Ponape; trading in the Marshalls, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji; trading for sandalwood in the New Hebrides; sailing onwards through the Banks Islands, Santa Cruz, San Christobal, Malaita, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and back to Manila via the Moluccas and Celebes. El Zéfiro then sailed for Bougainville, reinforced with Bougainville warriors carried out a blackbirding raid in Aoba (Ambae) in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), then sailed on to South America, touching at the Marquesas and Galapagos Islands, selling the New Hebridean slaves at Mollendo in Peru.

Alfred William Martin gave the manuscript to his granddaughter, Clara Ella Simm (b.1897), who he had brought up as a child after her father, William Simm (1855-1901), died in a flu epidemic in Launceston. When Dr Macnicol received the manuscript from his mother, via his sister, it was in a bundle tied with string. Dr Macnicol passed the manuscript to a conservator who repaired torn and fragmented pages. Dr Macnicol top-numbered the pages consecutively in pencil and transcribed the manuscript. He passed the transcript to Rafael Pintos-Lopez of Michelago, near Canberra, who submitted the transcript to Professor Brij Lal for assessment.

Untitled incomplete manuscript written by Alfred William Martin of Tasmania, written possibly in the 1890s relating his Pacific voyages and adventures in the 1860s, Ms. (gaps), re-paginated, pp.1-202; together with transcript of the manuscript made by Dr Peter Macnicol, Ts., pp.1-251.
See Finding aids for details.

Frank Filmer was a missionary with the Churches of Christ on Pentecost Island, New Hebrides from 1908-1919. Frank became engaged to Rosa Jane Fountain and in 1908 left to work as a missionary for the Church of Christ. He returned to South Australia and on 6 April 1909 Rosa and Frank were married in the Grote Street Church of Christ, Adelaide, South Australia. They had five children, four of whom were born in the islands. In 1923 Rosa developed malaria and died. Frank returned with his young children to Australia and worked as a Minister for the Church of Christ in Kadina, South Australia. Frank married Vera Edna Woodward on 2 November 1925 and returned to work on Ambryn as a plantation manager, where he had two more children. In 1929 they returned to South Australia. Frank later bought a dairy farm in Meadows where he and his three sons worked.

Four diaries written by Frank Filmer, 1908-1918

Reel 1:
Diary 1, 29 Feb 1908-31 Dec 1909;
Diary 2, 1 Jan 1910-31 Dec 1912
Diary 3, 1 Jan 1913-31 Dec 1915
Diary 4, 1 Jan 1916-31 Dec 1918

Margaret was born in Maryborough Qld in 1925 and educated in local schools except for one year at Sommerville Brisbane. She has worked as a bank clerk, as a private tutor on a cattle property and did a year at Queensland University and a year of nursing. Margaret and James Tedder lived in the Solomon Islands from 1952 until 1974. During the last years of her residence there, after the children went to Australian schools, Margaret did a lot of bush touring carrying out research on plants used by the Islanders for medicines, cures and other purposes. Most of Margaret Tedder’s plant identifications were checked in the now defunct Forest Herbarium where she lodged duplicates of the plants. These may now (2011) held in the University of South Pacific Herbarium, Suva. On retirement to Australia in 1975 Margaret did a bachelors degree in University of Adelaide majoring in anthropology and Pacific history. Cf. Margaret & James Tedder, Gardening: album of photographs of subsistence gardening in Eastern and Central Solomon Islands, 1955-1974. PMB Photo 48. M.M. Tedder and J.L.O. Tedder, Yams, a description of their cultivation on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, SPC Technical Paper No.169, Noumea, South Pacific Commission, 1974; 85 pp., illus. by B. House. Judith Hoye, “Custom medicine in Moli District, Guadalcal”, n.d. (1973?). Ts., roneo, 23pp., at PMB 1365/55.

Index cards on medicinal and other useful plants in the Solomon islands, A-Z, arranged by plant family. The cards record: Name; Family; Habitat; Constituents; Therapeutic activity; Local names; Sources of information; Preparation and use; Regions reporting use; Other locations reporting use. They are coded as follows, Dx = Diagnostic; Rx = Pharmaceutical (‘recipe’). Margaret Tedder undertook some comparative follow-up research in NSW in 1982 which is marked on some of the cards. Additional documents consist of :
• Plant uses, arranged by family A-Z. Excerpts from index cards arranged by plant use.
• Most of the information has been obtained from Central and Makira /Ulawa Province, Most of the plant vernacular provided is not placed into a specific language group or dialect. The main language groups include: Temotu, Malaita-San Cristobal, Gela-Guadalcanal and New Georgia
• List of Informats.
• Codes for Index cards.
See Finding aids for details.

Dr. Bryant Allen submitted this thesis as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Geography at Massey University in 1969. In 1976 he completed a PhD at the Australian National University titled Information flow and innovation diffusion in the East Sepik district, Papua New Guinea.

Dr. Allen carried out research in the Cook Islands in the 1960s and in Papua New Guinea from the 1970s to the present. His main interests are in the sustainability of agricultural systems and rural development. He has studied a number of PNG agricultural systems and has defined, mapped and described all PNG agricultural systems with Mike Bourke and Robin Hide. He has used the agricultural systems databases, to identify poor and disadvantaged areas in PNG, and has worked on food security and on the social and economic aspects of road maintenance. He is a co-author of the PNG Rural Development Handbook. He now works as a consultant for AusAID, FAO and the World Bank.

Foreward
Preface
Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Plates
Glossary of Terms

Introduction, p.1
Chapter I: The Mangaian Environment, p.3
Mangaia, p.3
Mangaian ecological conceptions, p.4
Soils, p.8
Climate, p.12
Mangaian crops, p.14
Ecological zones and land use, p.19

Chapter II: The Mangaian Society, p.28
Major population trends, 1821-1966, p.28
District populations, p.36
Social organisation, p.44
Land tenure, p.48
The village, p.53
Changing social status, p.57

Chapter III: Traditional Agriculture and the Cultivation of Food Crops, p.79
Present patterns of cultivation, p.65
Animals, p.76

Chapter IV: The Development of Commercial Agriculture
Initial moves towards surplus agricultural production, p.79
The introduction of cash crops, p.82
Increased contacts with the advanced economy, p.85
Post 1945 advances in commercial agriculture, p.92
Technological aid and a new market, p.92
Conclusions, p.96

Chapter V: The Extent of Commercialisation in 1967, p.101
Pineapple production, p.101
Sources of income, p.106
Technology, p.118
Patterns of labour, p.129
The use of credit, p.138
The occupational status of agriculture, p.143
Commercialisation and the perception of problems, p.154
Entrepreneurial activity, p.154
Conclusion, p.161

Conclusion, p.164

Appendices

Dr. Ian Heath submitted this thesis as a requirement for the Master of Arts qualifying course in the Department of History, School of General Studies, at the Australian National University, October 1974. He later completed a PhD at La Trobe University in 1979 titled Land policy in the Solomon Islands.

Acknowledgements, p.1

Introduction, p.1

Chapter One: Early Life, 1852-1884, p.7

Chapter Two: Explorer and Scientist, 1885-1894, p.17

Chapter Three: Samoan Interlude, 1895, p.36

Chapter Four: The Appointment, 1896-1897, p.49

Chapter Five: Pacification of the Solomons, p.58

Chapter Six: Land and Labour Administration, p.71

Chapter Seven: Woodford and the High Commission, p.94