Captain Hamilton (1852-1937) was born in Scotland and came to Australia at the age of 10. In 1882 - 1883 he made voyages from Brisbane to Vanuatu (at that time the New Hebrides), New Britain and New Ireland (Papua New Guinea) in labour recruiting vessels. For a dozen or so years from the late 1890s, he ran the Hamilton Pearling Co. with luggers operating out of Komuli in the Admiralty Islands and Gizo in Solomon Islands. This company also traded in copra, tortoise shell, black lip and green snail shell. Later, Captain Hamilton had big planting interests in the Solomons, mainly on Choiseul. He died in Sydney in November, 1937.
The papers copied on this microfilm are the most interesting and valuable historically of a large collection (in the Oxley Memorial Library) relating to Captain Hamilton's career. They comprise:
Diary of a recruiting voyage in the schooner Lochiel from Brisbane to the New Hebrides from September 20, 1882, to December 29, 1882.
Diary of a recruiting voyage in the schooner Jessie Kelly from Brisbane to the New Hebrides, New Britain and New Ireland from March to September, 1883.
Two reports on voyages in search of pearl shell in New Guinea and the Solomons in 1899-1900.
Log of the pearling lugger Nippon from April 20, 1901 to September 24, 1901, kept at the Hamilton Pearling Company's station at Komuli, Admiralty Islands.
Log of the Hamilton Pearling Company's station at Komuli from September 27 1902 to March 10 1903.
Logs and diaries kept by William Hamilton in the vessels Canomie, Ysabel, Gazelle and Kambin from January 1 1903 to November 14 1905. These concern the operations of the Hamilton Pearling Company in New Guinea and the Solomons.
For further details of Captain Hamilton's career and of his other papers in the Oxley Memorial Library, see the Bureau's newsletter 'Pambu' October 1968:3, pp.3-6.
Farquhar, a farmer of Maryborough, Queensland, visited New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands and New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in the schooner 'City of Melbourne' in November 1870 to January 1871 to recruit Pacific Islander labourers for himself and other farmers in Maryborough. He made a second voyage to New Caledonia, the New Hebrides and Banks Islands in the schooner Petrel in September 1871-January 1872 as a government agent under the Polynesian Labourers' Act of 1868.
The governments of the United Kingdom and France signed a protocol respecting the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in 1914 and ratified it on 18 March 1922. The copy here is the ratified version. The protocol superseded the Anglo-French Convention of 1906 which had established the Condominium of the New Hebrides in that year. The protocol strengthened the provisions of the 1906 condominium. It allowed France and the UK to govern jointly in the New Hebrides and establish exclusive sovereignty over their own citizens, subjects and optants (people of another nationality who had to choose between the jurisdiction of France or the UK). Indigenous ni-Vanuatu were placed under the jurisdiction of the condominium. The protocol declared the archipelago a region of joint influence. It confirmed and enhanced the presence of joint services in the territory, including a postal system, courts, finance department and land registry. Other administrative functions such as education, the police and health were the responsibility of the two governments. In some cases there were triplications with the condominium. For example the protocol provided for a joint health service, but there were separate British and French hospitals, clinics and physicians. The distinction between French and British services and growing duplications with some condominium functions became more noticeable as the two governments increased their spending levels in the territory in the 1960s and 1970s. For all practical purposes the Protocol was a kind of constitution for the New Hebrides. It provided the French and British Resident Commissioners with a para-constitutional framework upon which to enact new laws by joint regulation. The protocol remained in place, despite modifications, until Vanuatu achieved independence on 30 July 1980.
The Protocol consists of 83 pages and 68 articles, complete with French and English translations.
Five documents from the family collection of Conrad Stallan, who was employed as a missionary in the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) from 1940-46, including:
Typescript document (3pp.)
Letter from Boys High School Malua, author unknown, 19 Dec 1931, Ts. (9pp.)
‘1-447’, notebook containing a numbered list of photograph titles and dates (Mar 1940-Jun 1943)
‘448-663/ 700 (-1947)’, notebook of photograph titles and dates (Jun 1943-1947)
