Correspondence of the Roman Catholic Mission, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu):

1. Letters (1924-32) of Father J.B. Suas, S.M. (continued from PMB MS 57).
2. Letters of Father Antoine Tayac, S.M., from Vao (Malekula) and Melsisi (Pentecost), 1898-1902.
3. Letters of Father Jean-Baptiste Prin, S.M., from Vao (Malekula), Nagire (Aoba/Ambae), Namaram and Melsisi (Pentecost), Lolopuepue (Aoba) and Santo, 1901-1919.
4. Letters of Father Pierre Chauvel, S.M., from Olal and Fali (Ambrym), Lopagalo and Port Sandwich (Malekula), Sesivi (Ambrym) and Port Olry (Espiritu Santo), 1901-1922.
5. Letters of Father Francois Degoulange, S.M., from Vila, 1903-1914.
   Note: Most of the letters on this microfilm are addressed to Monsignor Victor Doucere, S.M., Apostolic Vicar of the New Hebrides.

The Rev. Henry Nisbet, LL.D. (1818-76), a missionary of the London Missionary Society, left England for the Pacific Islands in August 1840. He reached Samoa from Sydney in August 1841, and went to Tanna, New Hebrides (Vanuatu), in the following June. He returned to Samoa in February 1843 and was stationed there for the rest of his life. In 1846 and 1848 he visited Niue, the New Hebrides and the Loyalty Islands on behalf of his mission. He visited Australia in 1854 and 1867-68; and England and Canada in 1869-70.

Nisbet began the practice of keeping a daily diary several years before he left England and continued it until ten days before his death.
One notebook (numbered 1), 13 journals (numbered 2-14), some hymns in Samoan, and letters from Nisbet to his second wife, Lydia Lantoret.

Reel 1: Notebook (5pp) recounting Nisbet's interest in missionary labours, 1835-6, and his connection with the LMS, 1836. Diaries numbered 1-3, 21 September 1836 to 26 July 1840. Journal of a voyage from England to Tanna, New Hebrides, 10 August 1840 - 8 February 1841. Diary No.4, 8 Sept. 1840-3 Jan. 1851. Correspondence register, 1840-67.
Reel 2: Journal Nos 5-9, 6 January 1851 to 12 February 1869.
Reel 3: Journal Nos 10-14, 13 February 1869 to 29 April 1876. 'Mr Nisbet's Hymns', circa 1850 - hymns in the Samoan language. Letters from Nisbet to his second wife, Lydia Lantoret, 1870-76, and a few of her letters to the family and other miscellaneous letters, 1870-82.

Captain Fowler went to the Pacific in 1868 as captain of the London Missionary Society vessel JOHN WILLIAMS III. He was dismissed in 1871 because of his treatment of Pacific Islanders. The logbook begins on 12 November 1868 when Captain Fowler left London. It continues to 25 February 1869 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III passed Jervis Bay, NSW. It resumes on 30 March 1869 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III left Sydney for a cruise to the Pacific Islands, which extended to Tahiti, back to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and then to Raiatea before returning to Sydney on 31 December 1869. The cruise took in Raiatea, Tahaa, Huahine, Tahiti, Mangaia, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Niue, Pago Pago, Apia, Aneityum, Mare, Lifu, Uvea, Tubuai and Savai'i. The logbook resumes again on 4 April 1870 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III was at Huahine. Subsequent calls were made at Raiatea, Tahiti, Mangaia, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Manihiki, Rakahanga, Pukapuka, Mitiaro, Mauke, Atiu, Tutuila, Niue, the Tokelau, Ellice (Tuvalu) and Gilbert Islands (Kiribati), the southern New Hebrides and the Loyalty Islands. The JOHN WILLIAMS III returned to Sydney on 20 December 1870. Captain Fowler returned to England in 1871 in the ship BUCKLEY CASTLE.

The Reverend Frederick James Paton (1867-1941), son of the noted Presbyterian missionary, the Rev. Dr John G. Paton, was born at Aniwa, New Hebrides (Vanuatu). After being educated in Australia and serving there for a short time as a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. F.J. Paton returned to the New Hebrides and spent most of the rest of his life there as a missionary.

The journals give a day by day account of Paton's work as a missionary in the New Hebrides over a period of nearly 18 years. (See also PMB 33 for journals of his wife for 1903 - 1905).

A detailed account of Presbyterian church missionary activity in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) from 1857 to 1938.

The material is associated with the New Hebrides Presbyterian Mission Synod.

Fisher was chief officer of 'The Woodlark'.

The logbook describes a whaling voyage to the South Pacific apparently under a Captain Hardwicke. The voyage began in Sydney and took in Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), Solomon Islands, Torres Strait, Bismarck Archipelago (Papua New Guinea), Santa Cruz Group, Tikopia and New Zealand. There is a gap in the log from 2 February to 31 March 1857.