This document was a thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Pacific Theological College, Suva, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Divinity, October 1971.

A History of the Church in its Rotuman Setting - An Introductory Outline, Chapter 1: Rotuma Before European Contact; Chapter 2: European Contacts; Chapter 3: Conversion of Rotuma; Chapter 4: The Wars of Religion; Chapter 5: The Peace; Chapter 6: The Present Day Situation. Rotuma is an island in Fiji.

Letters to Catholic missionaries at Rotuma from Bishops Bataillon, Elloy and Lamaze and Father V-F. Poupinel, written from Apia (Samoa), Tonga, Wallis, Futuna, Sydney and France. A typed summary in English of the contents of each letter is given at the beginning of the film.

Reverend Dr C.M. Churchward (1888-1968) was a noted linguist. As a Methodist missionary at Rotuma, Fiji, in the 1930s, he prepared a Rotuman Grammar and Dictionary, which was published in 1940. He also published A New Fijian Grammar (1941) and an English-Tongan dictionary. He revised the Rotuman New Testament (1930) and the Tongan New Testament (1959-61) and was working on the Old Testament in Rotuman at the time of his death in Suva.

The papers comprise: Diary of a visit to Rotuma, 1931; Notes on dealings with Resident Commissioner, Rotuma, 1931; Subsidiary documents re above; Rotuma letters, 1932-37; Rotuman beliefs and customs; Memorandum re Rotuma Cession Day celebrations, 1967; Copy of Ao Fo'ou, 12/5/67; Records of the Land Titles Commission, Rotuma, 1882-1883; Notes on Rotuman history and Rotuma Circuit (Methodist Mission) reports, 1921, 1924-28; Account by Mesulama Titifanua (Rotuman missionary) of sojourn in New Britain, 1927-28; Notes on conversation with Takalaigau, 1934.

The documents and correspondence are in four folders and appear to have been sorted arbitrarily. The contents of the folders relate to the Roman Catholic Mission in Fiji cover the following periods:

1. 1868-1930 (principally land acquisition, Catholic-Wesleyan rivalry and Catholic education).
2. 1871-87 (including the consequences of British annexation for the Catholic Church in Rotuma).
3. 1882-1930 (land matters)
4. 1878-1902.
   An index to material copied in the Roman Catholic Archdiocesan Office, Suva, was published in the Bureau's newsletter Pambu April-June 1972:27, pp. 17-20 and is available on request from the Bureau.See also PMB MS 159/160 and PMB MS 432-468

Typed extracts from correspondence and documents from the Roman Catholic Mission to Fiji, principally:

• Letter from Fr Verne, first Catholic missionary to Rotuma, 1846 (from Bulletin de la Societe d'Oceanie 12);
• Early History of the Catholic Church in Oceania by Jean Baptiste Pompallier, Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania;
• Circular from Mgr Lamaze to all missionaries of Central and Western Oceania, 1879;
• L'Histoire de l'Oceanie Centrale by priests of the Vicariat under Mgr Bataillon;
• Correspondence dated 1872-1874, 1876-1879, 1882, 1889 regarding Catholic-Wesleyan conflict in Rotuma;
• Full text of letter from Fr Verne describing his visit to Rotuma in 1847 and the establishment of a Catholic mission there;
• Correspondence regarding the early Catholic mission in Rotuma and the progress of Catholicism there.
  NOTE: see PMB MS 428 for information on an index to this material.

The accounts, by various authors, are as follows:

(1) 'Histoire de Rotuma' by Fr Joseph Trouillet, SM. This is in three exercise books covering the periods: a. 'Depuis l'origine des temps fabuleux jusqu'au retour des Missionaires Catholiques, l'an 1868'. b. 'Depuis le retour des Catholiques en 1868 jusqua l'annexion en Juin 1881'. c. 'Depuis Juin 1881-la fin de 1890'.
(2) The foregoing 'Histoire de Rotuma' contained in two exercise books labelled 'Ier Cahier' and 'II Cahier'.
(3) A journal kept on Rotuma from 1868 to 1871 by Fr L. Dezest, SM (one exercise book labelled 'Journal, Ier Cahier').
(4) A journal kept on Rotuma from 1868 to 1890 first by Fr Dezest, then by Fr Trouillet. (Three exercise books labelled: 'Journal II Cahier,' 'Journal III Cahier' and 'Journal IV Cahier').
(5) An account of Rotuma in about 1824 in Domeny de Rienzi's 'Oceanie', translated by Dr Hugh Macdonald (typescript).
(7) An account entitled 'La Premiere Soeur Missionaire a Rotuma' (roneoed).
(8) 'Historique de la Station St Michel, Upu, Rotuma', dated 7 April 1949, and signed by L. Soubeyran.
(9) 'Historique de la Station Notre Dame des Victoires, Sumi, Rotuma', dated 28 April 1949.
(10) Rotuma Brothers' School - Extracts from Council Decisions, 1901-08.
(11) Newspaper clippings, 1917, 1932.

An index to manuscript material in the Roman Catholic Archdiocesan Office, Suva, Fiji (reels 159/160; 428/429 and 432-468) was published in the Bureau's newsletter 'Pambu' April-June 1972: 27, pp. 17-20 and is available from the Bureau on request.