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Logbook and statistics - Chronicle of important events

  • AU PMB MS 704
  • Collection
  • 1774 - 1949

See PMB 701

The logbook and statistics cover the period 1920-49. The chronicle of important events begins with Captain Cook's discovery of Niue in 1774 and is brought down to the year 1928. The events chronicled do not necessarily concern the London Missionary Society on Niue.

London Missionary Society - Niue

Correspondence, articles and research papers of Sione Latukefu

  • AU PMB MS 1393
  • Collection
  • 1777 - 1995

This collection contains research papers of Reverend Dr Sione Latukefu. The papers include articles (by Latukefu and others), copies of archival documents from various institutions as well as handwritten notes and typed transcriptions. Documents relate to governance in Tonga, including the pro-democracy movement, government and royal papers, laws and international treaties. Many documents also relate to the missionary history of Tonga and publications such as newsletters of the Wesleyan Methodist and Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga.

Latukefu, Sione

Oceania Marist Province Archives

  • AU PMB OMPA
  • Collection
  • c.1817-c.1981

The Oceania Marist Province Archives Series (OMPA) is the result of a special project during which records of the Catholic Church in islands of the Western Pacific were copied by Father Theo B. Cook, SM in collaboration with the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. (Cook was born Theodorus Bernardus Wilhelmus Kok but chose to go by the name Cook in Australia: Povey, 2010). The OMPA series covers the Diocese of Tonga (OMPA 1-25), Diocese of Samoa and Tokelau (OMPA 26-74), Marist Fathers, Rome (OMPA 80-100), Diocese of Wallis and Futuna (OMPA 101-126), Diocese of Port Vila (OMPA 127-178), Archdiocese of Noumea (OMPA 179-360) and the Oceania Marist Province Archives (OMPA 361-400).

Detailed indexes were prepared for the six diocese and those records copied in Rome. These can be found at http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/pambu/collections/microfilm.php or compiled in The Catholic Church in the Western Pacific: a guide to records on microfilm (Robert Langdon, ed.), Canberra, 1986.

Oceania Marist Province Archives

Records of the Societe des Etudes Oceaniennes, Papeete, Tahiti

  • AU PMB MS 71
  • Collection
  • 1822 - 1963

Records of the Societe des Etudes Oceaniennes, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia:

  1. Documents concerning Ernest Darling, the Nature Man, 1913-18. (See also the Bureau's newsletter 'Pambu' 1969:14, pp. 1-9)
  2. A document concerning the establishment of the French protectorate over Rurutu, Rimatara and dependencies, March 27, 1889.
  3. Miscellaneous manuscripts of Xavier Caillet (1822-1901).
  4. Miscellaneous documents relating to the reign of Queen Pomare IV.
  5. Autobiography (in Tahitian) of Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai (1875-1952), a notable Tahitian chief and orator.
  6. Newspaper clippings concerning an old cannon found in the pass of Papeete in 1963.

Societe des Etudes Oceaniennes

Journal and other papers

  • AU PMB MS 35
  • Collection
  • 1822 - 1840

Rev. John Williams (1796-1839) went to Tahiti (French Polynesia) as a missionary in 1816 and was active in the Society, Hervey, Southern Cook and Samoan Islands. In 1839, he moved to Fasitoouta, Upolu, in Samoa and began a station there. On November 20th of that year, he was killed at Erromango, New Hebrides (Vanuatu). Rev. Robert Bourne (1793-1871) went to the Society Islands as a missionary in 1817. In 1822, he began the mission at Tahaa. He left Tahiti in 1827 and retired to England in 1829.

The principal item on the microfilm is a journal describing a voyage made by the Reverends John Williams and Robert Bourne from Raiatea to Aitutaki, Mangaia, Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke and Rarotonga, Cook Islands, in July-August 1823, to propagate the Gospel. The journal appears to have been written, or written up, by Bourne. There is a subscription in ink by Williams on the last page. Some passages in the journal are the same or similar to those in William's 'A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands', London, 1837. Other items on the microfilm are:

  • A letter from Williams to his family from Raiatea, dated November 9, 1822.
  • A copy of a letter from Tamatoa, chief of Raiatea, to the President of the United States, dated Raiatea, September 10, 1829.
  • A letter from Williams to A. Birnie, dated Raiatea, February 27, 1830.
  • A letter from Williams to his sister Mary, dated Portsea, June 17, 1836.
  • A letter from Williams to his sister, dated Cape Town, July 14, 1838.
  • Copy of an extract from the minutes of a meeting of the London Missionary Society in Samoa on March 30, 1840, concerning news of the murder of Williams in the New Hebrides and his associate James Harris.

Williams, John

Letters, ethnographic material, articles

  • AU PMB MS 184
  • Collection
  • 1836 - 1918

These papers comprise part of the records of the Vicariate of Samoa which are designated Oceania Navigatores (ON) in the Marist Archives. The documents comprise:

  1. Letters from the Soeurs T.O.R.M. (Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Mary) to the Administration General of the Society of Mary. (APM III ONC, Dossier classified as 'ONC 498 T.O.R.M. Epistolae ad Adm. Gen.', 1914-1918. Continued from PMB 183.)
  2. Letters in Samoan, 1860-83 (from Samoa)
  3. Ethnographical material in French and English, undated
  4. O le Bulla Ineffabilis no liliu i le upu Samoa, 1869
  5. Letters in French and Samoan, 1861-91
  6. A letter concerning Samoa, 1910 (Gubernatores, ON 181)
  7. Laici Individualiter (ON 198)
  8. An article, 'Samoa et Tonga' from Bibliotheque Illustree des Voyages Autour du Monde, 1898(?)
  9. Newspaper clippings on Samoa, 1918
  10. 'Une Nuit Macabre en Oceanie', by P. Goupillard, undated
  11. Lists of letters written from Samoa, 1836-66
  12. Letters from Samoa, 1845-65

Roman Catholic Church - Samoa

Letters and journal excerpts of William Nihill

  • AU PMB MS 1406
  • Collection
  • 1841-1854

This collection consists of three letters written to his family in England on the voyage out to New Zealand, letters written from Waimate, pages from his journal while on the Isle of Mare in the Pacific, and other related items including letters to Nihill’s father on the occasion of his death in 1855.

Nihill's letters contain numerous references to the Bishop (who evidently took a close interest in the young and promising missionary) and give vivid and detailed accounts of day-to-day life in the colony and the progress of the mission, describing the school for natives which Nihill was superintending and his relationship with various Maoris, the development of the printing press which he was running, etc.

The series contains several long journal letters, including a journal of a trip to "Taurange, the Lakes and the Waikato written for dear mama in the hope that it will give her an idea of what travelling in New Zealand is like" covering the period 21 December 1849 to 9 January 1850.

After Nihill was ordained, he was given a cure on the island of Mare in New Caledonia in the Pacific, and his first letter from there on 1 August 1852 contains an interesting account of his first impressions of the island and the work on which he was embarking. Nihill died prematurely on the island of Mare (alias Nengone) in April 1855.

Nihill, William

Extracts from the autobiography of William Diapea alias Cannibal Jack

  • AU PMB MS 1432
  • Collection
  • 1843 - 1847

William Diaper was born in Ardleigh, England on 11 November 1820. His parents died when he was young and in 1937, at the age of 16, he left England for Hobart Town on board the Joshua Carroll, using the alias John Jackson. He spent the remainder of his life as a beachcomber, living in, and travelling around the islands of the Pacific Ocean and neighbouring countries.

Diaper (spelled Diapea in this manuscript), who came to be known as Cannibal Jack, filled 19 copybooks with accounts of his life. This manuscript is books 9, 16 and 17 only; the remaining books were burned after his death. These three books were given to the Rev James Hadfield by Diaper in Mare, Loyalty Islands (New Caledonia) in 1889. They describe his life and travels in Fiji, Fortuna and Tonga, covering the period 1843-1847. The manuscript was not considered appropriate for public consumption until 1928, when it was published by Faber and Gwyer of London, albeit with the omission of one passage from this the original manuscript.

In these pages, Diaper gives his accounts of fights and other close encounters, observations of various cultural practices, trade of beche de mer, tortoiseshell and other commodities, Tongan communities in Fiji, absconded sailors, the volcano at Tonualei, tensions between traditional and Christian beliefs, pig farming and court cases, amongst other stories and observations.

He refers to places such as Ovalau, Monta, New Caledonia, Wallis Island, Manila, China, India, Horne Islands, Fortuna, Vanuau Levu, Cikobia, the Macuaca coast, Neteva Bay, Naviu, Udu Point, Taviuni, Somosomo, Lekeba, Ogea, Wacewace, Vatoa or Turtle Island, Hapai Islands, Komo, Moce, Tonga or the Friendly Islands, Tofua, Kaau islands, Tugua, Lefuka, Vavao, Niafu, Tonualei, Utue, Fonualea and other places.

He mentions plantations managers Mr M (R. Estate) and Mr E (Deumbea Estate), missionary Rev J Hunt, Bonavidogo, Tue Macuaca and his widow, George Rodney Birt, Proctor, Sam the King, King of Lomaloma, Tuecakau, Cakobau, C. Pickering, Dr Lythe, Chief Lua, Vuetasau, Mr and Mrs Calvert, Ratu Finau, Captain Bligh, Ande Litia, missionary Paula, Komo, Mara (half-brother of Cakobau), Uluqalala, Josiah alias Lauji, missionary Mr Webb, King George alias Tupo or Tuekanokopulu, missionary Mr Raborne, Miss Lepone, Master Joele, Mr J. Williams, old Joe, Netane, Utue, Maata, missionary Mr Turner, Old John, American whaler Powel, Robert Stevens, Captain Dillon/Chevalier Dillon and others.

Diaper, William

Manuscript and printed material

  • AU PMB MS 1313
  • Collection
  • 1845-1953

Rev. Isaac Rooney (1843-1931) succeeded Rev. George Brown (1835-1917) as superintendent of the Methodist Mission in New Britain (Duke of York Islands), 1881-1888. The Mission had been established by Rev. Brown in 1875. Rev. Benjamin Danks (1853-1921) had joined Brown in 1878.

Manuscripts, Items 1-7: Photographs, press cuttings and letters to Isaac Rooney from Lorimer Fison and Fred Langham, Aug-Nov 1880.

Printed books, Items 1-15: mainly translations of scriptures into the language of the Duke of York Islands, some with inserts and annotations by Isaac Rooney, 1886-1905; and additional pamphlets by Isaac Rooney, including his essays on Darwinism and the origin of the Lelanesian and Polynesian races (1907), and by W.L.I. Linggood.

See Finding aids for details.
See also PMB 614, George Brown, George, Benjamin Danks and Isaac Rooney, Dictionary and Grammar of the Duke of York Island Language, copy owned and probably annotated by Isaac Rooney.

Rooney, Isaac

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