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Records of the Melanesian Mission, New Hebrides, 1857-1968

  • AU PMB MS 43
  • Collectie
  • 1857 - 1968

Records of the Melanesian Mission, New Hebrides (Vanuatu) from the period 1857-1968. Including the following:

  1. Baptismal Register of St Paul's Church, Lolowai, and from ketch Patteson, 1928-1968, with Register of Burials, St Paul's Church, Lolowai, 1929-1964, and Marriages, 1929-1965.
  2. Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths, at Mera Lava, 1917-1963, copied from the original register, 1967.
  3. Names of Birds in Various Languages of the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides.
  4. An Account of the Huqe (or Suqe) of Nduindui, Aoba (Ambae), written c.1930; found among the papers of Archdeacon A.E. Teall, Archdeacon of Southern Melanesia, d.1966.
  5. Vocabularies of and stories in various languages of the New Hebrides [including Pentecost, Maewo, Ambae, Torres Islands and Banks Islands] - Vocabularies of North, Central and South Raga; story in Mota; Vocabularies of Mota, Tegua and Toga; Loh-English Dictionary; Notes on Loh Grammar; Maewo Vocabularies; Stories in the Aoba Language.
  6. Family Prayers and Communion for the Sick in the Language of Lakona, Santa Maria, Banks Islands, with English translations.
  7. Melanesian Mission Papers, 1891-1934, mainly relating to land matters.
  8. History and Diary of Aoba, 1857-1922, by Father A.S. Webb.
  9. Records of Events and Register of the Melanesian Mission at Maewo.
  10. Mota-Maewo Vocabulary.

Melanesian Mission

Paton Archive

  • AU PMB MS 1421
  • Collectie
  • 1858 - 2011

The papers in the collection relate to the Paton family and their missionary service in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) from 1858-2011. The papers include correspondence, journals, reports, lectures, circulars and photographs from that describe the early missions and the Paton family's involvement in establishing the Presbyterian Church in the New Hebrides. The papers describe and include information on family and personal life, finances, the work of the mission such as the education of local Ni-Vanuatu at the Tangoa Teachers' Training Institute and the establishment of Constitution of Synod. Also included in this collection is a slideshow of mission work most likely used to garner general and financial support for the mission work. Isobel Paton filed these papers by person and continued to add to these collections with newspaper clippings and other articles related to the work of the Paton family in Vanuatu.
Some local information included in this collection are: a local legend on the origin of yam, volcanic eruption on Lopevi Island on November 1, 1939 and some correspondence from Wilfred Paton to David Bule in local language.

Paton, John Gibson

Le Moniteur de la Nouvelle Caledonie Noumea: Imprimerie du Gouvernement. 1-1394, Oct 1859-June 1886

  • AU PMB DOC 11
  • Collectie
  • 2 Oct 1859-26 Jun 1864

The Moniteur, New Caledonia's first newspaper, was an official weekly. The first 119 issues consisted of two printed pages containing Government decrees and decisions, court judgements, statistics, news of official ceremonies, shipping movements and some general news. From the beginning of 1862, the size of the paper was doubled and was divided into official and non-official sections. The non-official section was open to contributions from readers so long as they did not transgress the limits of an official journal. There was a further liberalisation of the paper's policy six months later. For detailed description see P. O'Reilly Bibliographie ... de la Nouvelle Caledonie (Paris, 1955)

Nos. 1-248, 2 Oct 1859 - 26 June 1864

Le Moniteur de la Nouvelle Caledonie

Reminiscences of voyages in the Pacific Ocean

  • AU PMB MS 1342
  • Collectie
  • 1860s

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.

Martin, Alfred William

New Hebrides Mission photographs, 1860-1954

  • AU PMB PHOTO 90
  • Collectie
  • 1860-1954

This is a collection of 142 images of the New Hebrides mission in Vanuatu. The images were created by digitising magic lantern slides. Magic lantern slide shows were used to promote the work of the Mission. The islands featured in the collection include Ambrim, Aneityum, Epi, Erromanga, Futuna, Iririki, Malekula, Malo, Mele, Nguna, Paama, Pele, Tanna and Tongoa.

The images show several missionaries to the New Hebrides including Rev. Michelsen, Rev. Annand, Rev. Lamb, Rev. Smaill and Rev. Bowie. The images include a volcanic eruption between Tongoa and Epi, mission houses, the Ambrim hospital, the Paton Memorial Hospital and the Tangoa Training Institute (including the Tangoa Training Institute Jubilee in 1945). Some of the images show pre-Christian ways of living including sacred stones, carved demits (images representing the dead), drums and sing sing grounds. Images of the Mission ships include the Break of Day dispensary and boat building on the shore of Vila Harbour.
The New Hebrides Mission from the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand:
The Presbyterian Church began sending missionaries to the New Hebrides (today known as Vanuatu) in the mid-19th Century. The first missionary was Rev. John Geddie of the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia who arrived on the island of Aneityum in 1848. Subsequent missionaries came from the Presbyterian Churches of New Zealand, Canada, Scotland and Australia (Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales).
In New Zealand an interest in supporting a Christian mission to the New Hebrides was fostered when Rev. John Inglis of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland toured the country in 1852 following a three month tour of the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands. In that same year, Inglis and his wife joined Geddie on Aneityum. Rev. John Inglis continued to send regular reports of his work to New Zealand, leading to increasing interest from the Church there in sending their own missionaries to the islands.
The Presbyterian Church of New Zealand was at that time divided up into the “Northern Church” and the “Southern Church” (consisting of the Provinces of Otago and Southland). The Southern Church was based on the ideals of the Free Church of Scotland and these principles influenced its mission work for many years. For over 40 years the two Churches worked separately, with mission activities during this time operating independently of each other.
Over several decades the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand sent a number of missionaries to the New Hebrides including the following people. The information below includes the missionaries' date of arrival in the New Hebrides, the name of the missionary and the name of the main island on which they worked:
1866, Rev. William Watt, Tanna
1870, Rev. Peter Milne, Nguna
1879, Rev. Oscar Michelsen, Tongoa
1885, Rev. Charles Murray, Ambrym
1889, Rev. Thomas Smaill, Epi
1892, Rev. Dr. Lamb, Ambrym
1899, Dr. John Bowie, Ambrym
1903, Rev. Thomas Riddle, Epi
1905, Rev. William V. Milne, Nguna (born on Nguna in 1877)
1932, Rev. Basil Nottage, Tongoa
1938, Rev. Ken Crump, Nguna
1941, Rev. J.G. Miller, Tongoa
1944, Rev. Ian Muir, Emae and Epi
1948, Rev. A.G. Horwell, Epi
In the early years there was no organised or reliable shipping service to the individual islands of the New Hebrides so it was important for the Church to have their own vessel to bring regular supplies from Australia and New Zealand. A boat was also necessary for transport to other mission stations. Although the New Hebrides missionaries were responsible for their home churches and allotted areas and islands, they worked closely together on common issues and met annually for a mission Synod meeting. New Zealand Presbyterian Church worked in conjunction with the Australian Presbyterian Church to raise money and purchased a mission supply vessel, the “Dayspring I”. This 115 ton brigantine was launched in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1863. It was lost in a hurricane ten years later and replaced by a second hand schooner, the “Dayspring II” in 1876. The Dayspring II was sold prior to 1890 as she was too small and slow and uncomfortable to sail in. The Australian missionary Dr. John G. Paton raised £6000 during a visit to Britain in 1884-1885 and later increased the donations to £7000. The “Dayspring III” was built on the Clyde in Scotland to the order of the Victorian Presbyterian Church Foreign Missions Committee. She was 157 feet long and arrived in Australia in 1895. On only her fourth voyage to the islands, she sank on the 16th October 1896 after striking an uncharted coral reef near New Caledonia. The decision was made not to replace the vessel.
The New Hebrides Mission shared a practical concern for the everyday needs of island people. In addition to converting local people to Christianity, the missionaries worked to improve education, through the introduction of schools where the training of local mission teachers was initiated. The Tangoa Teachers’ Training Institute opened at Tangoa, South Santo, in 1895. The purpose of the Institute was to train local teachers and it was supported by all the Protestant missions working throughout the New Hebrides. Missionaries also worked to improve health education and services and encouraged the production of arrowroot and island trading as a means to generate revenue. Arrowroot powder was shipped to New Zealand and other countries, where it was initially distributed by women’s missionary groups and later by commercial organisations. The funds from the sale of arrowroot were used to build additional churches in the islands and, in some cases, as a donation towards New Zealand mission funds to be used elsewhere. From 1880 to 1918 on Nguna alone, over 26 tons of arrowroot was produced.
By 1910, the work of the New Hebrides Mission was declining. This was partly due to a rapidly decreasing population on the islands and a feeling that little room existed for further expansion of mission work, as by then most areas were adequately covered. The reduction in population was primarily caused by introduced European illnesses and epidemics which decimated the local population. The Queensland labour trade had also had an impact on the local population, with many locals having decided to remain in Queensland.
In 1947 there was a general consensus held among the Island missionaries that the local church was ready to assume control of its own affairs. A constitution was drawn up, and after amendments submitted by the New Zealand and Australian Mission Committees and the New Hebrides Mission Synod, it was adopted. At a Centennial Synod meeting in 1948, the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Rev. John Geddie, the local church was placed fully in charge of its own affairs. The island mission councils for Australia and New Zealand were then limited to the affairs of their immediate mission staff. The New Zealand Church continued to provide a large financial grant to the New Hebrides Presbyterian Church. A continued focus remained on training church leaders and education more generally. The Tangoa Training Institute later introduced a curriculum of advanced theological studies.
In the early 1950s, the New Zealand Missions Committee responded to the request for assistance to establish a High School at Onesua on Efate, along with funds and personnel to set up and run a small hospital on Tongoa. The Committee viewed this project as a practical means by which the New Zealand Church could provide for a social need rather than a means for furthering evangelistic opportunities. This policy shift in Mission funding opened up other opportunities for aid from the New Zealand Church including developing Navota Farm and opening the Maropa religious bookshop in Port Vila, training local islanders to be trades people and undertake the building work. The New Zealand Bible Class volunteer scheme sent out young people during the 1960s to assist with building, administration and nursing. The Mission, at the request of the Presbyterian Church of the New Hebrides, divested itself of all remaining authority in the Islands so that the New Zealand missionaries effectively worked for the New Hebrides Church. In 1965 a memorandum was prepared which defined the terms of “responsible partnership” and sought to define the responsibilities of each partner. The Church continues today as the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu.
For more information about New Hebrides Mission collections at the Archives of the Presbyterian Research Centre, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa, and New Zealand, see: http://www.archives.presbyterian.org.nz/missions/newhebrideshistory.htm

Foreign Missions Committee

Notebook

  • AU PMB MS 3
  • Collectie
  • c1865 - 1909

The Rev. James Egan Moulton (1841-1909) was a noted Methodist missionary in Tonga from 1865 to 1906. He was the founder of Tubou College, Nuku'alofa.

1.Tongan history from 1797-1854, commencing with the death of Mumui on 29/4/1797. 2. The history of the Tui Kano Kupolu. 3. Story of origin of Fakafonua. 4. Legends: Bugalotohoa and Munimatahai; Abakula; The Fuaa; Lafa

Moulton, James Egan

Miscellaneous papers on Fiji - letters, notes, book draft

  • AU PMB MS 26
  • Collectie
  • 1865 - 1868

Fison (1832-1907) a university-educated man, with a keen interest in anthropology, was born in Suffolk, England. He migrated to Australia in 1856, joined the Methodist Church, and went to Fiji as a Wesleyan missionary in 1864. He remained in Fiji until 1884, when he returned to Australia and became editor of the Spectator, a Melbourne church paper.

Copies of letters, notes on Fiji customs and personalities, sketches of life in Fiji, and an early draft of Fison's book 'Tales of Old Fiji' (London, 1907). The wording of some of the tales, as recorded in these papers, has been much worked over and occasionally differs in its final form from that in the published versions.

Fison, Lorimer

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