A collection of slides from Papua New Guinea taken by Jill Clingan. The images document her time in Papua New Guinea working as a nurse for the Australian Baptist Mission from 1971-1973. The images cover several aspects of her life in the Western Highlands in PNG, including the mission station, her work as a nurse, the hospital, clinic visits, daily living, gardens, food and cooking, aspects of traditional PNG culture and celebrations including sing-sings, Christmas, health surveys and visits to other nearby missions.
Places visited include Baiyer valley, Baiyer river, Southern Highlands, Kiwinkia, Giimanda, Mt. Hagen, Wewak, Lumusa gorge, Wahgi Valley, Kudjip, Giimanda, Madang, Kar Kar Island, Ramu Valley, Ramu River, Lae.

This collection of 44 photographs documents time spent by Gwen and Tom Taylor at Buin Area School and Kerema in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea from 1945 to 1961. Most of the photographs relate to Buin Area School and document the physical appearance of the school and various aspects of life there. These include photographs of students in classrooms, making cane furniture, weaving, swimming and gardening. Several photographs show Gwen Taylor holding babies and being pictured with nuns. Tom Taylor is pictured in a classroom and mention is made of his role as the principal of the school at Buin. Some of the photographs depict special occasions and ceremonial events being celebrated by local people. There are good examples of houses, school buildings and a church. One photograph depicts the purchase of a new truck and there are a few photographs depicting canoes, including an outrigger canoe. Also pictured are boats, including the MV Gona. One photo appears to show artillery at Kokopo. A few photographs feature non-local adults and children posing for the camera. One photograph shows a large cloud of smoke and appears to be the burning of garden. Another shows an explosion in the sea.

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.

Sister Lida Tonkin (Mrs L. Gill), a nursing sister from Young, NSW, first arrived at the Methodist Mission at Raluana in New Britain (Papua New Guinea) in 1916.

The photographs and post cards include events, daily life and traditional customs practiced in Rabaul in the early 20th century. Funerary and marriage customs are represented. There is a good set of photographs on traditional fishing (PMB Photo 1_31 to PMB Photo 1_46). Other images show canoe building and sailing, basket, broom and string making and traditional houses, mission life and the Malabunga hospital. Dances, such as the Kulau dance, carvings used in dances and the

This collection of 292 slides was transferred from the National Museum of Australia ‘Ellestan Dusting Collection’ to the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau in 2010. The slides came in two wooden boxes: one labelled ‘Papua and New Guinea’; the other labelled ‘Cocos Islands, New Hebrides and New Caledonia’ (however, inside the second box, the labels are for New Hebrides and New Caledonia only). No information was supplied with the slides except for a few handwritten captions on those for Papua and New Guinea.

There are 139 photos taken in 1957 and 1959, during official visits to the Territory of Papua and New Guinea by then Australian Minister for Territories, Paul Hasluck. Ellestan Dusting served as Hasluck’s private secretary in this period. On the 1957 tour, Hasluck was accompanied by Netherlands Minister for Overseas Territories, Mr Helders. The images captured in this set include several photos of Hasluck, Helders and other officials, though the majority of photos are of services and infrastructure, people, scenes of daily life and photos taken in transit. The delegates visit Goroka, Madang, Rabaul, Lae and Port Moresby. Photos include sing-sing at Wau show, visits to schools, hospitals and cemeteries.

The 135 slides of New Hebrides were taken as Dusting accompanied a short official “Joint Tour” in conjunction with the French and British Commissioners. The tour started in Vila and then went up through the central islands, Pentecost Island and on to Espiritu Santo. The slides depict images of dancers from many different regions. They don’t necessarily indicate the island where the photograph was taken as dancers from other islands were often asked to participate in tour festivities. In addition to formalities of the tour, including the consecration of a church and the opening of a bridge, this collection includes several images of Girl Guides and Boy Scouts. Dusting had a lifelong involvement with the Girl Guides movement.

No information was supplied for the 16 slides of New Caledonia. These photographs depict images around Noumea in an unknown year. This set of images features landmarks such as Haut Commissariat / former Hotel du Gouvernement, Noumea port, Societe Le Nickel (SLN), South Pacific Commission / Du Pacifique Sud building, Noumea, Pointe de l'Artillerie and Cathedrale Saint Joseph de Cluny] as well as many natural features.

This is a collection of 45 colour slides taken by James L.O. Tedder, MBE, during the period 1952 to 1974. Twenty nine of these slides were taken in the Territory of Papua New Guinea (TPNG) and 16 in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP).

Of the 29 TPNG images, three are of Lae in Morobe District, dated 1952. There are also five images of Rabaul in New Britain: one dated 1952 may be of Tavurvur volcano, a view from Matupi Island. The other four dated August 1964 show the view from the District Commissioner’s garden, a sunset, dancers and school students. Also dated 1964 is a portrait of an unnamed female nurse in Madang District. This photograph may not belong in this series, nor have been taken by James Tedder. Judging from the information on the badge the nurse is wearing it was taken after Papua New Guinea Independence.

Three images dated 1958 were taken in the Eastern Highlands District, probably all at Mt Michael Patrol Post. They include one of James Tedder, his wife Margaret and their children with District Officer W E (Bill) Tomasetti. Tomasetti served in World War 2 / World War II as a commando in Timor. The other photos were taken of two groups of local men, some of whom are displaying their traditional wealth, including plumes and kina shells.

Mt Hagen and the Western Highlands District is the subject of 14 images probably all taken in August 1964: seven are aerial views of the town, airstrip and geographical features, including the Hindenberg Wall, and the terrain en route to Porgera. Seven are of Highlands people. The people, including a portrait of two women, are shown walking along a road or posing for a photograph and show the wealth and status of these people. Three images taken also in August 1964 in Central District are of the view across Fairfax Harbour to Port Moresby town and, in the foothills of the Owen Stanley range behind Port Moresby, of the Rona (Rouna) Falls hydro plant and the Falls themselves. Both this trip outside Port Moresby in Central Province and the flight in the Western Highlands District were probably facilitated by the Western Highlands District Commissioner of TPNG’s Western Highlands District, Tom Ellis, for the District Commissioner of BSIP’s Western District, James Tedder, after the men met at a meeting in Port Moresby.

The last group of images in this collection were taken in the BSIP of two active volcanoes, one in Western District and one in Eastern. The submarine volcano Kavachi, in Western, is in the UNESCO Marovo Tetepare Complex, which is home to outstanding marine biodiversity. Of the five aerial images, two are captioned in distinctive handwriting “H. Moss 27.12.65”. Three images taken with what appears to be the same camera as Moss’, have “Tedder 1966” recorded on them in Tedder’s writing. It is possible that these are duplicates of three images taken by Harry Moss, MBE, and have been dated accordingly. After retiring as a TAA (Trans Australia Airlines) Captain, Harry became the first pilot in the new Solomon Islands internal airline Megapode Airways. Margaret Tedder worked in the Megapode office and occasionally James Tedder was flown by Harry for work purposes. Both men mention the other in their autobiographies, James in his “A District Administrator in the Islands 1952-1974” (published 2008) and Harry in his “10,000 Hours In the Life of a Flying Doctor Pilot” (published 1988). In Eastern District, in the Santa Cruz Islands, is Tinakula. A conical stratovolcano in the same volcanic arc as Kavachi, Tinakula has a long history of activity, including throughout 2019. There are eleven images, a number of them taken from different angles from the air, dated July 1974, and show landslips caused by the volcano’s activity.

James Tedder and members of his family described/captioned the majority of the images.

Captain Singh, of the Dogra regiment, relates that the Indians "left Singapore on 5 May 1943 in seven parties each consisting of about 600 - three of the parties went to New Britain and the other four came to New Guinea", ie. Wewak.

Professor Hank Nelson gave the PMB a cover note on Singh's 'Brief Sketch', as follows: "Singh wrote another brief account of his time in New Guinea as a prisoner of war of the Japanese, 'The Experiences of an Indian Prisoner of War in New Guinea", The Infantry Journal, Vol.1, No.1, July 1949, pp.56-62. In the journal article he notes that the 'irony of fate reached its climax' when of the eleven Indians who survived with the Japanese until the end of the War, nine were put on an aircraft to fly them out of New Guinea and it crashed, killing all nine. Singh, who was not on the flight, was then the only survivor. From the 3,000 Indians originally landed in the Sepik in May 1943 another 191 had survived, liberated by advancing Australians before the end of the War. One of these men, Sepoy Bachan Singh, provided evidence for the Tokyo War Crimes Trials."

Professor Nelson adds that “a copy of Chint Singh’s reminiscences written in Wewak is in the UPNG Library and (I think) the Australian War Memorial.”

The document is a roneoed typescript, 61ppp., dated 4 Nov 1945. It was passed to the PMB by Professor Donald Denoon, who worked at the University of Papua New Guinea. At the time, the author was unable to be contacted. The author's son, Narinder Parmar, has since been identified.

PMB Photo 46 is a collection of 2291 photographs Bill Gammage took of Papua New Guinea subjects over 22 years from March 1966 to September 1988. It can be divided into four sections.
The first section (March to November 1966, August 1968, and March 1970) has about 200 photos. The subjects include: June Valley and the first Preliminary Year of the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), the Administrative College (Adcol), the buildings at Port Moresby Showground which served as university lecture theatres, students, staff, rugby union football matches between the university/Adcol team known as Aduni and other local teams. Town (Port Moresby) subjects include Fairfax Harbour, the seaplane hangar area, Koki market, Girl Guide Shop, Cuthbertson Street, House of Assembly, Ela Beach, war memorials, Anzac Day, and the suburb of Boroko. Outside Port Moresby subjects include Bomana War Cemetery, Idlers Bay and the villages of Porebada, Hanuabada, Kapa Kapa, and Lea Lea. In the hills behind Port Moresby, subjects include Crystal Rapids, Sirinumu Dam, Hombrom Bluff, Sogeri, Rouna Falls, the Kokoda Trail monument, Owers Corner, Uberi and Goldie River. Other subjects include the Kokoda Trail from Kokoda to Templeton’s Crossing and the Menyamya sub-district of Morobe. Among the people photographed are Tony Voutas, Peter Metcalf, Hank Nelson, Peter Munster, Thomas Tobunbun, Ken Inglis and Leo Morgan.
Complementing the photos of this period are two chapters - “Moresby 1966” in Australians in Papua New Guinea 1960-1975 and “The Boy from Boort” in a book of the same name (both published in 2014) and the article “What Kaindi Expects” published in Nation, Sydney (No. 210, 14 January, 1967).
The second section (February 1972 to December 1976) has about 1500 photos. They show people and places in nineteen of the twenty provinces - Central, East Sepik, East New Britain, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, Western, Gulf, Morobe, Madang, Milne Bay, Enga, New Ireland, Manus, Southern Highlands, Bougainville, Simbu, Northern/Oro, West Sepik/Sandaun and the National Capital District.
Subjects include men, women and children, agriculture, cash crops, plantations, mines, infrastructure (roads, bridges, airstrips, communications towers), buildings (houses, offices, spirit houses, schools, aid posts), sing-sings, pig kills and exchanges, mission stations, environment (rivers, mountains, volcanoes, landscapes and seascapes), flowers, birds, animals, insects, and suburban life in Boroko including that of single men from the Highlands who wanted jobs in town. Their story is told in “The Men from Gono” (Overland, Winter, 1975). Other articles include “Moresby or the bush” (Current Affairs Bulletin, 50 (11), April 1974), “Tinmanmale of Taunsip” (Oral History (PNG), 3 (5), 1975 (with Rabbie Namaliu)), and “Maclay comes to Gorendu”, ( Oral History (PNG], 4 (1), 1976).
Other subjects include UPNG, graduations, the Goroka Show, the Hagen Show, the Port Moresby Show, Anzac Day, and the Independence celebrations of 1975. Sites relating to both traditional warfare and to World Wars 1 and 2, individual graves, cemeteries, memorials and plaques, are also subjects. Included among the headstones and memorials photographed are the grave at Lagui, Salamaua, of Corporal Anis of the Native Constabulary Branch of the New Guinea Police, and a memorial to Baros of Sirovi at Kieta. Headstones for Victoria Cross (VC) winners are those of Fijian Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu at Bitapaka near Rabaul, and Australians Private BS Kingsbury at Bomana and Flight Lieutenant Bill Newton at Lae. The sites at which two VCs were won - Mission Hill at Wewak where Private Ted Kenna won his VC and the ground at Sattelberg up which Sergeant “Diver” Derrick attacked - are also subjects, as is the sign marking the place where Mavis Parkinson and Sister May Hayman of Gona Mission Station were executed.
Research trips including to Bulldog Landing, Misima and Woodlark Islands, Wau and Bulolo, East New Britain and New Ireland are subjects. Complementing the photos of the East New Britain and New Ireland research trip are “The Rabaul Strike 1929” (Journal of Pacific History, Vol 10, No. 3 (1975)) and the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry on Sumsuma. The trip to Misima and Woodlark contributed to Hank Nelson’s Black, white and gold: gold mining in Papua New Guinea, 1878-1930 (ANU Press, 1976). Walks are also subjects and include Kaintiba to Menyamya, Kosipe to Tapini, and (by others) Efogi to the Koiari access road.
Among the people photographed are Ken Inglis, Tony Voutas, Hank Nelson, Elton Brash, David Hegarty, Jim Fingleton, Mike Manning, Chris Gregory, Mary Jane Mountain, Michael Somare, Gough Whitlam, Rabbie Namaliu, Kateo, Manning Clark, Dymphna Clark, Peter Munster, Nora Brash, Zedekia Ngavirue, Bertha Ngavirue, John Kaputin, Margaret Loko, Martha and Grandma George, Albert Speer, Rhys and Dorothy Healey, Bill Standish and John and Tim Moresby.
The third section (July 1980 to December 1985) has about 200 photos. Subjects include Port Moresby, the South Pacific Arts Festival, the Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Western Highlands, Enga including Porgera gold mine, East Sepik, Western, Madang and Gulf provinces. Among the people photographed are patrol officers and explorers Jim Taylor and John Black and their wives Yerima and Dawn, and Sione Latukefu. John Black was also photographed with explorer Ivan Champion. See Australian Dictionary of Biography entries for Taylor, Black and Champion.
The fourth section (September 1987 to September 1988) has about 370 photos. The main subject is field research for work on the 1938 Hagen-Sepik Patrol. In part, this work involved retracing the route that the patrol had taken, plus visiting provinces from which police or carriers were recruited. Copies of photos taken in 1938, most by Pat Walsh, were shown to relatives and other people along the route and also helped locate key sites on the 1938 journey. People who took part in the patrol, mostly as carriers or police, were interviewed and photographed. Sites include the camp site at Hoiyevia, the Strickland Gorge crossing, the Telefomin camp, and Porgera gold mine. Recent developments in the area including the newly opened mine at Mt Kare are also photographed.
Among the Papua New Guinean subjects are policemen Bus of Yuringo, Manus, and Kowuwu of Aro, Morobe, cook Aire Onesa and carrier Sepeka both from Lower Bena, Eastern Highlands, Nifinim at Telefomin, West Sepik/Sandaun, and Suni at Olsobip, Western Province. Kwarima Ubuma of Hoiyevia is photographed as is Meta near Mt Hagen and Mainch of Karo near Ramdi. Meg and Daisy Taylor are also photographed.
A film My Father, My Country was produced in 1989 and the book The Sky Travellers: Journeys in New Guinea 1938-1939 published in 1998 (Melbourne University Press). Other related publications are a commentary ‘John Black’s “Anatomy of a Hanging: Malignant Homicidal Sorcery in the Upper Markham Valley…”’, (Journal of Pacific History, 33 (2), December, 1998) and an article “Sorcery in New Guinea, 1938 and 1988”(Journal of Pacific History, 41, June, 2006).