Dr William Henry Harvey was a botanist, becoming professor and chair of Botany at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, from 1856 until his death in 1866.

The letters, four in number, give vivid accounts of Dr Harvey's visits to Tonga and Fiji in the latter half of 1855 during the course of a world tour. The letters are addressed to Harvey's sister Hannah (Mrs Hannah Harvey Todhunter) and his niece Mary (Mary Christy Harvey). Dr Harvey was particularly interested in algae; but he also investigated other aspects of the natural history of Tonga and Fiji, and wrote at length of a religious revival in Tonga and cannibalism in Fiji. (Twenty-six other letters of Dr Harvey, dealing with other aspects of his world tour, which took in Gilbraltar, Malta, Ceylon, Australia and New Zealand, are deposited in the library of Trinity College, Dublin). See also the Bureau's newsletter PAMBU, March 1968: 8, pp.1-4.

Captain William Driver (1803-1886) was born Salem, Massachusetts, USA. He went to sea aged 14, and made his first voyage to Fiji in quest of beche-de-mer in September, 1872, in the ship Clay under Captain Benjamin Vanderford. He spent 49 months in the South Seas beche-de-mer trade before returning to Salem. Given command of the Charles Doggett, he sailed for the Pacific again in January, 1831. He remained at sea until 1837 when he retired to Nashville, Tennessee.

The logbook is for the voyage of the Charles Doggett. It begins on January 30, 1831, when the ship was 2,098 sea miles from Salem en route to New Zealand, and ends in March, 1832, when the ship was gathering a cargo of beche-de-mer in Fiji. In the interval, calls were made at Tubuai, Tahiti (French Polynesia), Pitcairn Island, Samoa, Tahiti and Niuatoputapu (Tonga). Driver's visit to Pitcairn Island from Tahiti was for the purpose of returning 65 descendants of the Bounty mutineers, who had been moved from Pitcairn to Tahiti four months earlier as it was feared that their island was becoming overpopulated. Driver describes this episode in some detail in an 1871 memoir accompanying his logbook of the Charles Doggett.
See also the Bureau's newsletter Pambu, December 1969:17.

See PMB MS 432, material relating to Roman Catholic Mission Fiji.

Correspondence from New Caledonia, Wallis, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Moruroa (Tuamotu archipelago), Sydney, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Naples.

Papers relating to the reign of King George Tupou II of Tonga. The papers are in files labelled as follows: 1. Customs Audit, 1886-93; 2. Royal Correspondence, 1893-98, including newspaper clippings; 3. Premier's Department Correspondence, 1894-97; 4. Court Proceedings, 1895; 5. Premier's Department Correspondence, 1898; 6. Royal Correspondence, 1900; 7. Premier's Department Correspondence, 1900; 8. Premier's Department Correspondence, 1901; 9. Royal and consular Correspondence, 1901; 10. Correspondence, 1902; 11. Correspondence, 1903; 12. Royal Correspondence, 1904; 13. Premier's Department Correspondence, 1904; 14. Royal Correspondence, 1904-05.

Papers relating to the reign of King George Tupou II of Tonga. The papers are in files labelled as follows: 1. Premier's Department, Correspondence 1905; 2. Royal Correspondence 1906; 3. Premier's Department Correspondence 1907; 4. Consular Correspondence 1907; 5. Royal Correspondence 1907; 6. Correspondence relating to government departments 1907; 7. Royal Correspondence 1908; 8. Consul-Premier Correspondence 1908; 9. Premier's Department - Outward 1908; 10. Premier's Department - Inward 1908-09.

Papers relating to the reign of King George Tupou II of Tonga. Six reels as follows:
Reel 1: files 1 to 11; includes Consular Correspondence 1909/1910; Premier's Department Correspondence inward and outward 1909/1910; Royal Correspondence 1909 and Series I and II of 1910; Parliamentary Reports 1909; Report of Chief Justice, 1906-08; Report on Agriculture 1910.

Reel 2: files 11 to 20; includes Premier's Department Correspondence inward and outward 1910/1911; Lands Department 1910; Papers relating to the Toga Ma'a Toga Kautaha 1909-11; Finance 1908-11; Laws of Tonga revised by R. Skeen (Chief Justice) 1911; Royal Correspondence inward and outward 1911; Consular Correspondence 1911.

Reel 3: files 20 to 26; includes Premier's Department Correspondence inward and outward 1911/1912; Miscellaneous Correspondence 1911/1912; Royal Correspondence 1912/1913.

Reel 4: files 27 to 38; includes Premier's Department Correspondence 1913; Diary (author unknown) 1913; Royal Correspondence inward and outward 1914/1915; Privy Council Minutes 1914; Cabinet Ministers' and Miscellaneous Correspondence 1914; Report of auditor-General 1914-15; Miscellaneous Papers relating to Government 1914/1915; Royal - Consular Correspondence 1915.

Reel 5: files 39 to 44; includes Royal and Premier's Correspondence 1916; Royal - Consular Correspondence 1916; Premier's Department Correspondence outward 1916; Premier's Department Memoranda 1916; Miscellaneous Correspondence 1916; Reports of Government Departments and Correspondence 1916.

Reel 6: files 45 to 50; includes Parliamentary Reports 1916; Diary 1916-31; Auditor-General's Report 1916-17; Royal Correspondence 1917-18; Undated papers.

The logbooks cover voyages in the ships 'Laughing Water' (1868), 'Corypheus' (1870-71), 'Day Spring' (1872), 'Alsager' (1872-73) and 'Ceara' (1874). The voyages in the 'Laughing Water' were between Newcastle, Lyttleton (NZ) and Melbourne. Those in the 'Corypheus' between Melbourne and China. On her last voyage the 'Corypheus' ran aground on a reef in the Marshall Islands and the crew sailed 3,000 miles in the ship's boats to Rockhampton. The voyage of the 'Day Spring' was from Melbourne to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and return. The 'Alsager' sailed from Melbourne to Malden Island for a cargo of guano. She foundered off Tongatapu, apparently as a result of sabotage. The 'Ceara's' voyages were from Adelaide to Mauritius and then to various Australian ports.

Reverend Charles Moore went to Tonga as a Methodist missionary in 1924. He spent four years in Ha'apai, followed by four years in Vava'u, and returned to Australia in 1932. The correspondence (85 items) chiefly consists of letters from the Rev. Rodger C.G. Page, president of the Tongan Conference of the Methodist Church. Other correspondents include Queen Salote Tupou and a number of other Tongans, whose letters are in the Tongan language. In addition there is a copy of a letter from the Rev. Shirley W. Baker, Premier of the Tongan Government, to the president of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in Melbourne of 1888.