Rev. Neville A. Threlfall, who was a Methodist missionary in New Britain, is a historian and writer. His published works include, One hundred years in the islands: the Methodist/United Church in the New Guinea Islands Region, 1875-1975, Rabaul, 1975; and Volcano town: the 1937-43 eruptions at Rabaul, Bathurst, N.S.W, c1985, with R.W. Johnson.

Contents:
An unpublished history of Rabaul and East New Britain, PNG, Ts., 2 vols., 682pp., arranged as follows:
Prologue. The Town that Shouldn’t Be. p.1
Part I. Before the Town
Chapter 1. A Harbour without Shipping, p.3
Chapter 2. Ships Arrive, 1700-1884, p.27
Chapter 3. A German Colony, 1884-1902, p.48
Part II. A Town and its People
Chapter 4. A Town is Born, 1902-1910, p.76
Chapter 5. A Cosmopolitan Community, 1910-1914, p.104
Chapter 6. No More ‘um Kaiser, 1914-1915, p.138
Chapter 7. The Long Occupation, 1914-1921, p.162
Chapter 8. The New Masters, 1921-1930, p.185
Chapter 9. The Non-Masters, 1921-1930, p.217
Chapter 10. Depression and Development, p.240
Part III. A Town Destroyed
Chapter 11. Eruption and Evacuation, 28 May-6 June 1937, p.259
Chapter 12. Future Uncertain, 1937-1939, p.298
Chapter 13. Shadows of War, Sep 1939-Dec 1940, p.325
Chapter 14. The Shadows Deepen, 1941, p.338
Chapter 15. War with Japan, Dec 1941-Jan 1942, p.359
Chapter 16. The Fall of Rabaul, 20-23 Jan 1942, p.377
Chapter 17. Under New Rulers, 1942, p.398
Chapter 18. Withering on the Vine, 1943-1945, p.417
Chapter 19. Peace in a Wasteland, Aug 1945-Jun 1946, p.439
Chapter 20. Not to be Rebuilt, 1946-51, p.457
Part IV. The Town Lives Again
Chapter 21. Rabaul Rebuilding, 1952-60, p.496
Chapter 22. Prosperity and problems, 1961-70, p.540
Chapter 23. The Mataungans March, 1969-1970, p.566
Chapter 24. A Year of Shocks, 1971, p.592
Chapter 25. Towards Independence, 1972-1975, p.617
Chapter 26. Facing the Future, 1975-1984, p.641
Epilogue. The Town That Is, and Shall Be, p.655
Bibliography and List of Sources, p.664

Reverend Norman F. Cocks was born in Harrow, Middlesex, UK. He went to Hackney and New College, London, and was ordained at Skinner St. Congregarional Church, Poole, Dorset on 25 November 1934. His Pastorates in England were Poole, 1934-1940, and High Cross Tottenham, 1940-45. Rev Cocks was then appointed to the post of Australian and New Zealand Secretary of the London Missionary Society, 1945-1970. He transferred to the Anglican Church in Tasmania, was ordained Deacon in St. David's Hobart on 19 October 1970, and was subsequently ordained as an Anglican priest. His portrait is in the "LMS Chronicles" of February 1945 and June 1947.

Volumes 2-5, pp.150-651, of the autobiography of Rev. Norman F. Cocks completed in Hobart in 1987. Ts., photocopy. Chapter headings as follows. Vol.2, pp.150-299: So to London; A change of Wind; Outward Bound; Australian Landfall; Over the Tasman; Papua Invitation; Trial and Reunion; Eleanor Rivett; Traveller’s Days [1947]; More Gleanings from 1947; World Council of Churches – Amsterdam 1948; The Naming of the Ship ‘John Williams VI’; Visit of ‘John Williams VI’; Our New Home and Office; To Fiji and Samoa. Vol.3, pp.299-450: Home Again; 1951 and Britain Again; ‘Passage to India’; ‘Home from the Sea’; India – Australia – Papua; Royal Flush; Island Shadows; The Dickens Fellowship; Another Papuan Journey; A Year of Anticipation; South African Pilgrimage; ‘The Golden Route’ and the Cape; ‘Home’ Again; La Suisse; Transatlantic. Vol.4, pp.450-550: Across the North American Continent; Time Passes; 1961 – An Eventful Year; 1962 – So Many Changes; Port Moresby 21 November 1962; Pleasant Island Again; Churchwise; Another Year; 1965 Constant Movement; Papua ‘The Ecumenical Crisis’; The Wanderers Way. Vol.5, pp.550-651: What is ‘Normality’?; Papua Again; Night Flight to Independence; ‘The Gilbert and Sullivan Colony’; The Penultimate Year – 1969; Farewell Papua New Guinea.

The Fiji Voice was the official publication of the Fiji Independent News Service which was established in 1987 to publicise events related to the coups in Fiji. The Fiji Voice was edited by Dale Keeling, a Sydney journalist.

No.1, Sep 1987: No.2, Oct 1987: No.3, Dec 1987: No.4, Feb 1988: No.5, May 1988: No.6, Aug 1988: No.7, Jan 1989: No.8, Mar 1989: No.9, May 1989: No.10, Sep 1989: No.11, Dec 1989: No.12, Feb/Mar 1990: No.13, Apr/May 1990: No.14, Jun/Jul 1990: No.15, Sep/Oct 1990: No.16, Dec 1990: No.17, Mar 1991: No.18: May/Jun 1991: No.19, Aug/Sep 1991: No.20, Nov/Dec 1991: No.21, Apr/May 1992: No.22, Jul/Aug 1992: No.23, Oct 1992: No.24, Dec 1992.

The Fiji Situation Report was the press service of the Fiji Independent News Service which was established in 1987 to publicise events related to the coups in Fiji. The Fiji Situation Report was edited by Dale Keeling, a Sydney journalist.

Fiji Situation Report, Oct 1987-Nov 1990. See Finding aids for details.

In the Fiji Independent News Service (FINS) was established in Australia in June 1987 under the wing of the Movement for Democracy in Fiji following the first coup in Fiji. It ran an effective media campaign aimed at persuading key Australian and New Zealand trade unions to maintain trade bans on Fiji. FINS press releases and its newsletter, Fiji Situation Report (PMB Doc 419), gave details of arrests, human rights violations and political news, providing an alternative perspective to the established international press. The FINS Chairperson was Don Dunstan; the Directors were Krishna Datt, Dr Tupeni Baba, Senator Bruce Childs and Professor Ted Wheelwright

Reel 1 Instructions and correspondence, May 1987-Sep 1988
Reel 2 Correspondence, Aug 1988-Jul 1990
Reel 3 Correspondence, Jun 1990-Jul 1992

Nauru's environment has been devastated by 100 years of phosphate mining. Mining of Nauru’s phosphate deposits began in earnest after the First World War under a joint Australian-New Zealand-British venture, the British Phosphate Commission. This mining was carried out with no regard for future rehabilitation and on terms that deprived the Nauruan people of reasonable returns for the sale of its phosphate in world markets.

In 1987-1988 the government of Nauru held a Commission of Inquiry into the rehabilitation of its worked-out phosphate lands. In 1988 the Commission published a 10 volume report which concluded that the island's former administrators - Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom - were responsible for the rehabilitation of worked out areas of the island mined during the period of the Mandate and Trust.

After several unsuccessful requests to the Australian government for financial assistance, Nauru took the findings of its Commission of Inquiry to the International Court of Justice which admitted a case against Australia. The case aroused much interest and controversy with Nauru receiving vocal support from world-wide environmental groups. A Compact of Settlement was reached in 1993 before the substantive hearing took place in the International Court in which Australia agreed to pay the Republic of Nauru a cash payment of AU$57 million and AU$2.5 million annually for 20 years. This money was to be used on development projects. New Zealand and the United Kingdom each agreed to contribute AU$12 million ex gratia towards the Australian out-of-court settlement

Transcript of proceedings, as follows:
Open Sittings, Days 1-33, 35-36, 39-52, pp.1-4191, 23 Feb 1987-30 Jan 1988.
Closed Sittings, Days 25, 30, 33, 34, 37 & 38, pp.1-591, 23 Nov-11 Dec 1987.
See Finding aids for details.

Geoff Walls coordinated the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Botany Division's Biological Diversity Project for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands funded by the Commonwealth Science Council from 1986 to 1988. The author's summary report Traditional uses of plants in New Zealand and the Pacific ... (Havelock North, DSIR Oct. 1988) was distributed to PMB Member Libraries in July 1989.

4 papers:<BR>Paper No. 1: Commonwealth Science Council Biological Diversity Project perennial plants of New Zealand and South Pacific Islands, project plan for 1986. January 1986 - 4 pages<BR>Paper No. 2: Cook Islands visit, July-August 1986: reports on a visit as part of the Commonwealth Science Council's Biological Diversity of Perennial Plants project. September 1986 - 21 pages. Identifies for future research plants of high traditional human value throughout the Pacific: notes serious effects of mealy bug infestation of pandanus on production and sales of Atiu women's handicrafts: draws attention to Bill Sykes' work towards a comprehensive flora of the Cook Islands: summarizes discussions with Cook Islanders on traditional plant uses<BR>Paper No. 3: Commonwealth Science Council Biological Diversity Project, New Zealand and the Pacific: progress report, March 1987 - 14 pages<BR>Paper No. 4: Commonwealth Science Council Biologial Diversity Project, New Zealand and the Pacific: regional position paper, prepared for Commonwealth Science Council, November 1987 - 13 pages. Describes progress 1986-1987: defines project's aims as cataloguing information regarding existing plant use: conserving the traditional knowledge and the plants: and facilitating current and future plant use: recommends project development for future action.

Langdon's book, The Lost Caravel, was published in June 1975 by Pacific Publications Pty Ltd, Sydney. The book puts forward the theory that the crew of a Spanish ship, the caravel San Lesmes, lost in the eastern South Pacific in 1526, played a prominent role in the prehistory of several Polynesian islands, including the Tuamotu Archipelago, Society Islands, Austral Islands, Easter Island and New Zealand. The San Lesmes was one of the ships of the expedition of Garcia Jofre de Loaisa which left Spain in July 1525 to obtain a cargo of spices in the East Indies. Langdon’s sequel, The Lost Caravel Re-explored, published in Canberra in 1988, gathers his evidence in support of the presence of European castaways in the pre-Cook Pacific, focusing on the fate of the crew of the San Lesmes and including a revised chapter on Easter Island and additional chapters on New Zealand.

Correspondence, 1987-1995, on research and other matters relating to the publication of The Lost Caravel and The Lost Caravel Re-explored. Arranged, A-Z, by correspondent.
<b>See Finding aids for details.</b>
See also PMB 551 for Robert Langdon’s Lost Caravel correspondence, 1967-1975, and PMB 999 for his correspondence, 1976-1987.
For original documents relating to the Loaisa expedition see PMB 135-140.

These documents, reconstructed after Cyclone Heta flooded the Justice Archives in Niue, register applications to the High Court of Niue on land matters.

Register of Applications, case Nos.2560-4472, Nov 1985-Jan 1991, pp.18-49;
Register of Applications, case Nos.4473-7022, Jan 1991-Oct 1995;
Register of Applications, case Nos.7569-8600, Jan 1997-Feb 2002.
Applications to the Land Court published in the Niue Gazette, Nos.1-3, Jan, Jun & Nov 2003, and Nos.1-4, 2004.

The union had its origins in the ethnically based welfare societies formed in Port Moresby in the late 1950s. Waterside workers were also active in the PNG Workers' Association and its successor the Port Moresby Workers' Association in the 1960s. The Central District Waterside Workers' Union was established at a public meeting in Port Moresby on 24 July 1968 and registered under the PNG Industrial Organisations Ordinance on 28 January 1969. Between 1977 and 1980 the CDWWU embarked on a series of amalgamations with the Overseas Seamen's Union, the Rabaul Workers' Association, the Madang Waterside Workers' Union and the Lae Stevedoring Union. The amalagamated union, the PNG Waterside Workers' and Seamen's Union, the first national private sector union in Papua New Guinea, was registered on 8 January 1980. The name of the organisation was changed to the Papua New Guinea Maritime Workers Industrial Union on 18 October 1993. (See Michael Hess, Unions Under Economic Development: private sector unions in PNG, Oxford University Press, 1992.)

Minutes, press releases and related papers, 1985-1997, including: Management Committee minutes, 1994-1997.<P><b>See reel list for further details</b>