‘A Paradise of the Gods. Writings and Drawings of Handley Bathurst Sterndale.’ is an unpublished digital edition edited by J.J. Overell. In 1870, Handley Bathurst Sterndale worked as a surveyor on the island of Upolu, Samoa, for the German trading company Goddefroy & Sohn. In this capacity, he made an expedition across Upolu, making notes and sketches about the journey as he went. In 1871, on Motu Kotawa on the islet of Pukapuka atoll in the Cook Islands, he worked these notes into the manuscript ‘Upolu; or, A Paradise of the Gods’, and worked his sketches into finished drawings. Some accounts are not his first hand observations and others are demonstrably wrong. Sterndale sought to have the manuscript published, but was unsuccessful in finding a publisher before his death in 1878. After his death, it was listed in a catalogue among the publications of Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington of London, but the manuscript never made it to print.

The original notebooks have since been lost, but the surviving manuscript and drawings have been passed down to Sterndale’s descendants. This edition brings together edited excerpts from Sterndale’s original manuscript and is illustrated with his original drawings, which were digitised by photographer Rod Howe. It also includes a detailed introduction by editor J.J. Overell, and contextual chapters on the geology of Upolu, a chronology of Sterndale’s life and detailed appendices, including a complete transcript of the original manuscript.

Subjects covered by Sterndale include beachcombers, Samoan cultural beliefs and practices, civil conflict, diet, agriculture, wildlife, disease - amongst others. In addition to Upolu, Sterndale writes about Levuka in Fiji and Easter Island or Rapa Nui.

James Lyle Young (1849-1929) was born in Londonderry (Derry), Ireland, and went to Australia with his parents in the mid-1850s. After working in Australia as a station hand, Young, in 1870, went to Fiji where he was associated for five years with a cotton-planting venture at Taveuni. In April, 1875, he left Fiji on a trading voyage to Samoa via Futuna and Wallis Island.

The journal gives a vivid account of Young's life during three of his most adventurous years. It begins with a trading voyage round the Macuata coast of Fiji followed by a voyage to Samoa via Futuna and Wallis Islands. In Samoa, Young saw a great deal of the American adventurer, Colonel A.B. Steinberger, who headed the Samoan Government for 10 extraordinary months. After playing a prominent part in the events that led to Steinberger's downfall, Young sailed for the Marshall Islands in May, 1876, to open a trading station for Thomas Farrell at Ebon Atoll. He remained in Farrell's employ until November, 1877 when he went to Majuro.
See also PMB MS 22 and 23 and the Bureau's newsletter Pambu, Dec. 1968:5, pp.1-12.

These documents originally formed part of the archives of the Samoan District Committee and later Samoan District Council of the London Missionary Society, and were formerly held at Malua, Western Samoa. The Samoan District Committee was replaced by the Council in 1928.

Reel 1: Correspondence between the Samoan District of the LMS and LMS Stations in: Cook Islands, 1910-37 (English, local language); Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Tuvalu and Kiribati), 1877-1940 (some damaged) (English, Gilbertese); Niue, 1907-39; Tokelau Islands, 1907-42; Tutuila (American Samoa), 1908-47. Reel 2: Correspondence with American Samoa, 1908-47 (English, Samoan).

James Lyle Young (1849-1929) was born in Londonderry, Ireland, and went to Australia with his parents in the mid-1850's. After working in Australia as a station hand, Young, in 1870, went to Fiji where he was associated with a cotton-planting venture at Taveuni. In 1875, he left Fiji on a trading voyage to Samoa, and from May, 1876, to October, 1881, he worked as a trader in the Marshall, Mariana and Caroline Islands. In 1882, Young went to Tahiti to become manager of the Papeete trading store of Andrew Crawford & Co., of San Francisco. In 1888, he went into business in Tahiti on his own account. He was closely associated with the Pacific Islands for the rest of his life, as managing director of S.R. Maxwell & Co., of Tahiti, and owner of Henderson and Macfarlane Ltd., of Auckland. He became recognised as an authority on the life and culture of the region.

Letters, notebooks, memoranda, articles, etc. dealing with Young's career and interests from 1878 to the year of his death. Includes a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald on 'The Trouble in Samoa' (31/3/1899), a paper on German expansion in the Pacific (1908), correspondence on the Pitcairn Islanders between Young and the British Consulate in Tahiti (1911-13) and an account by Young of his family's history and his own career (1919, c.1924). Some letters written in Micronesia as well as materials from French Polynesia. A full list of other items in the Bureau's newsletter Pambu, Dec. 1968:5, p.12 and Jan. 1969:6, pp.10-11. See also PMB 21 and 22.
See Finding aids for details.

Solf (1862-1936) became president of the municipality of Apia, Western Samoa, in 1899, after serving as a district judge in German East Africa. In 1900 he became governor of Western Samoa when that country became a German colony. He remained in that post until 1911 when he became Secretary for the colonies in the German government. After World War I, he served as German ambassador in Japan. The Solf papers have been filmed on reels PMB 581 - 589.

The papers comprise:

1. letters to family (3 volumes), 1885-1935
2. personal honours, 1927-34
3. congratulations on 70th birthday, 1932
4. publications, speeches, etc. 1886-1932 (Continued on PMB 582)