WPHC Archives

Western Pacific High Commission Archives in Auckland, NZ

Stephen Innes
Special Collections Librarian
General Library / Te Herenga Matauranga Whanui
University of Auckland

Ph. (649) 373-7599 ext. 8062
Fax (649) 373-7565

email: Stephen Innes

Special Collections home page

Background

Loss of records in WW II

• "A large proportion of the records of the British Solomon Isles Protectorate and of the Gilbert and Ellice Colony was unfortunately lost during the last war." It seems that the 1941-42 Resident Commissioners' correspondence was lost for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP).

1952: Transfer of WPHC from Suva to Honiara

• Both active and dead files moved with WPHC headquarters from Fiji to Honiara in 1952.

WPHC Arrangements for the move to Honiara--General Considerations:

Minute 1: "The documentary accumulation of years in these offices is very considerable and it may well be that some part of it could be destroyed and some left in Fiji for safe custody at least until such time as it is convenient to move it across. We do not want to clutter ourselves up with anything that is not essential to the smooth working of the combined Secretariat." H.E. 19.7.52

P. 20 Minute A: to CS from FAS: "... it was decided that all records after 1920 should be regarded as 'live.' The remainder of the current records being provisionally 'dead.' In packing arrangements we should attempt to get the dead files out of the way and pack them separately. Current files should be packed last ..."

11 Oct 1952: 'Dead' files to be taken to Honiara, not left in Suva.

• There was no difficulty separating the records of the Governor of Fiji and the Western Pacific High Commissioner because there were always two separate offices. That explains why the Civil Lists for Fiji did not show any WPHC personnel.

1954: Central Archives of Fiji and the Western Pacific High Commission (Suva)

• Dorothy Crozier started the Central Archives of Fiji and the Western Pacific High Commission in 1954. She did the separation of materials: Kingdom of Tonga, Pitcairn Islands Colony, Consul-General for Western Pacific. She served until 1958. But note: it was the WPHC that chose what things to send to the archives. She organized what they gave her. Active files would have been kept for the use of the new branches of the colonial organization.

• • "Crozier took better care of the files than she did of her appearance. She was the first European woman the native boys had met who didn't wear makeup. They were intrigued. They liked her and respected her."
• A.I. Diamond seems to have taken over the Archives after Crozier's retirement.

1976-1978: Closure and breakup of the Western Pacific Archives

By 1978, the archives were known as the Western Pacific Archives (WPA) and were itemized on the WPA letterhead as the "National Archives of the Solomon Islands, Gilbert Islands, New Hebrides, and Tuvalu."

• Tofiga had retired in 1972, but did many followup jobs for the government. He worked on closing the WPHC in 1978. The last files were packed in August of that year. Files that originated in Tarawa were sent to Tarawa. Files that originated in Suva went to London. The office was officially closed on 20 November 1978.
• Patrick D. Macdonald was in charge of boxing things up. "Both files and office equipment were crated for shipment. Lists of files were drawn up and typed. They were then packed in small archive boxes--no more than 5 files to a box. The small boxes were then stacked in a wooden packing crate. They fit perfectly, with no need of any kind of straw or other packing material."
• "The task of closure involved the shipment of -

124 cases of WPHC records to the FCO;

 55 cases of New Hebrides records to the FCO;

 20 cases of Tonga records to the FCO;

  1 case of Pitcairn records to the FCO;

 60 cases of records of the Gilbert and Ellice

Islands colony, and of the Gilbert Islands, to Tarawa;

 61 cases of records of the British Solomon Islands

Protectorate, and of the Solomon Islands, to Honiara;

  9 cases of miscellaneous material, including some New Hebrides

records to Vila;

 15 cases of Ellice Islands' records to Tuvalu (Funafuti); and,

 16 cases of reprographic equipment to Honiara (for all of which

special sized and shaped cases had to be made).

"That represents a total of 361 cases in all, the cases themselves being supplied by courtesy of Suva's leading undertakers!

"Detailed lists, setting out the contents of each case, were also sent simultaneously to all recipients.

In addition to the records thus distributed, a total of 709 reels of positive and negative microfilm were also distributed--490 to the FCO (concerning the WPHC, Tonga, the New Hebrides and the Pitcairn Islands), 147 to Tarawa, 69 to Honiara, and 3 to Funafuti."

Controversy over the Dispersal of the WPA

Macdonald criticized Bruce Burne for promising that the whole of the Western Pacific Archives would move to Honiara: "I hear there is now a row about the Archives building in Honiara and the Auditor wants to know who authorized such an enormous building, far too large for current needs or those in the near future. It was designed on the instructions of my predecessor, Bruce Burne, who most improperly promised that all the WPHC records (as opposed to the BSIP ones) would be sent to Honiara!"

Burne and his supporters argued that the transfer of the WPHC files to England was "little short of a tragedy."

"For eight years (1970-1978) the WPA [was in] an unassuming, wooden structure of wartime provenance in the Government House grounds ... The last permanent director of the WPA, Bruce Burne, was a meticulous and dedicated official who worked tirelessly to develop the archive's holdings and to assist researchers working in Pacific studies."

"The transfer of the WPHC files not only flew in the face of accepted archival convention--that, whenever possible, files should be housed in the area to which they relate--but robbed SINA of 80 per cent of its intended collection."

"SINA [Solomon Islands National Archives] is an archives almost bereft of records. Years ago Bruce Burne observed that it would be '... little short of a tragedy" if the WPA holdings were broken up and dispersed. Sadly, that is exactly what happened, and now, more than half a decade later, bureaucratic indifference and dithering have denied SINA and the people of the Pacific islands the records which SINA was originally built to house."

"What is more, SINA lacks another key element in its archival collection, microfilm of the WPHC files. Before the closure of the WPA, Burne's staff undertook the massive project--with Australian and Islands aid--of microfilming all the WPHC files down to 1927. They did so no only as a hedge against the possible loss of the originals, but as a way of providing universities in the region, interested in Pacific studies, with an invaluable new resource. Unfortunately, SINA does not have a copy of those microfilms, and the master negative microfilm copy of WPHC records, comprising 315 reels, was remitted to the United Kingdom without the consent of the participants in the project."

2003: Relocation of the WPHC Archive to Auckland, NZ

• The WPHC files were shipped from England to Auckland and reopened to the public in 2003.

2003 Bones Search

Summary

• I read all of the finding aids and called for as many files as I could read in the time I was in Auckland.
• No file explicitly about the closure of the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme. There are some resettlement files--moving the inhabitants of Nikumaroro to Nikumaroro Village in the Solomons.
• No hint of correspondence about exhuming Gallagher.
• No bones, sextant boxes or records of inquests concerning the death of a castaway on Gardner Island (that is to say, none that I could find in 2003).

Links

• National Archives of Fiji. Short note about how the National Archives of Fiji developed from the Central Archives of Fiji and the Western Pacific High Commission.