This document is a bound set of papers presented at a Mission Orientation Course, convened by the Melanesian Institute and Xavier Institute of Mission, at Alexishafen, in June-July 1972. It is item NT/130 Pt.2, of the notes and research papers on Rabaul and the Gazelle Peninsula collected by Rev. Neville Threlfall.
The Melanesian Institute (MI) was established in 1971. The MI “is an ecumenical research and teaching institute, designed to help member churches speak more clearly to the needs of the people in Melanesia. It does this by studying the Melanesian cultural traditions and taking them more seriously. Disseminating of these research materials through its annual Cultural Orientation Course, Workshops, Seminars and make available these materials through its publications over the last thirty nine years.” http://www.mi.org.pg/ (Dec 2008).

80 papers by T. Ahrens, G. Arbuckle, P. Brennan, H. Janssen, J. Knobel, P. Kuamin, A. Leadley, P. Pora, J. Noss, J. Tschauder, N. Threlfall, and many others, given at a mission orientation course in 1972, collated into 4 sections:
Section I. Situation in PNG; Role of the Church; History of the Anglican, Lutheran, United and Catholic Churches in PNG and the Solomon Islands.
Section II. Melanesian pre-history, culture, tradition, kinship; Millenarian movements and cargo cults.
Section III. Theology, missions, sacrament, rites, morality, marriage, training of catechists and pastors, urbanisation in Melanesia.
Section IV. Theology of development & liberation; Developmental programs, including papers on theology, medicine, education, vocational training, agriculture, land tenure, race relations, anthropological fieldwork.
The papers are not sequentially page numbered.
See Finding aids for details.
See also PMB 1305, THRELFALL, Rev. N.A. (1930- ), Notes and research materials on the history of Rabaul and the Gazelle Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, 1786-1975. Reels 1-13. (Available for reference.)