Series 01: Photographic prints of missionaries and Indigenous people in the Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa and India, ca. 1885-1938 / probably photographed by Rev. John Wear Burton, R. H. Rickard, and others for the Methodist Church of Australasia, Dept. of Overseas Missions

PXA 1137

series

ca. 1885-1938

Graphic Materials, Photographs

825535

1110 photographic prints (4 boxes) - gelatin silver - 25.5 x 24 cm or smaller

1-32. Papua New Guinea : scenes including wharf at Ulu Island, Malakuna, Chinese school at Rabaul, Miss March’s girls, Dr. Pockley’s and Mr Nietsch’s graves, the hospital, drying copia, New Britain girls.

33-95. Papua New Guinea : village scenes [Dobu island], scenes and people including the Vive Warwick at Fergusson Island, Rev. Jacob’s hospital, gatherings at Dobu, Salamo, a Misima village, canoe decoration, children’s games, the Mission house and church at Misima Island, the Rev. Gilmore, the Rev. J. R. and Mrs Andrew, 1923?.
See also Photographs of Papua at Mitchell Library call nos. MOM 253 and MOM 254.

96-122. Papua New Guinea : missionary meetings, plantations, Dogura, Begasi, Hannabada girls, 1923?
See also Photographs of Papua at Mitchell Library call nos. MOM 253 and MOM 254.

123-181. Papua New Guinea : mission houses and churches, the Port Moresby wharf, East Cape, Salamo, Dobu, the native minister’s house, students houses, native canoes and sailing boats, the Tolema sailing boat, drying cocoa beans, missionary cricket matches, decorated food stand at Port Moresby, memorial at Dobu, 1933
See also Photographs of Papua - Port Moresby, 1933 at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 242.

182-254. New Britain : Chevrolet motor car at Nakanai, Mrs Wright’s sewing class, Captain Cox on the Litia, the first mission house at Nakanai, Jubilee celebrations, ceremonial masks, head-dresses and ornaments, the Government hospital at Talasea, the memorial at the site of the first service in 1909, Mrs W. Brown’s child’s grave, 1925?
See also Photographs of New Britain at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 246.

255-326. New Britain; New Ireland : Lawaru, Raluana, Namatanai, villagers welcoming visitors, church services, missionary meetings, Pinikindu mission house, the George Brown College choir, Miss Woolnough’s School at Raluana, dancers with ornaments sewn to skin, war dances, 1925?
See also Photographs of New Britain at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 246.

327-409. New Britain : missionaries including Dr. and Mrs Penington, Mrs Wilson at Vunakabi, on board the Montoro, a welcome to Rev. Frank Lade and Rev. John W. Burton, M.A., the New George Brown College, principal’s house, Fijian minister and family, Chinese students at Rabaul, 1929?
See also Photographs of New Britain at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 247.

410-489. New Britain : Rabaul, Burns Philip office, cemetery, Matupit volcano, New Britain missionaries 1938, Watnabara, Chinese students, on board the Montoro, 1933?
See also Photographs of New Britain at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 249.

490-581. Fiji; New Caledonia : Ba hospital, the Rev. H.H. Nolan on board the John Wesley, schoolchildren at Noumea, Nailaga, sugar trains, Hindu temples, Fijian railway workers, mosque at Lautoka, Japanese at Davulevu, Japanese photographers, Noumea streets and harbour, 1928?
See also Photographs of Fiji, 1928 at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 240.

582-665. Fiji; Australia : garden parties, missionaries on the Niagara 1933, mission offices, portraits of Indians and Fijians, Rewa village, Nausori, harvesting grain and tapioca root, markets, kookaburras, unidentified national park.
See also Photographs of Fiji, 1933 at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 241.

667-724. Fiji : Davuilevu, Nadarivatu, Baker College, Rev. R.L. McDonald’s children, Miss Morrissey, Fijian children, ploughing, bullocks, graves, 1924?
See also Photographs of Fiji - Native at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 239.

725-773. [New Britain]: Burns Philip wharf, unloading stores, houses on raised piles, hospital nurses with native assistants, plantations, boy holding camera bag, outdoor school classes and exercises, graves.
See also Photographs of New Britain, 1933 at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 248.

774-820. Fiji : Ba school, Suva, Nausori, Lautoka mission station, the new Sigatoka Bridge, the Rev and Mrs Piper, orphanages, markets, sugar trains, 1924?
See also Photographs of Fiji - Indian at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 243.

821-918. Darwin, Goulburn Island, Thursday Island : Medicine man at Milingimbi, mission station, opening church at Goulburn Island, preparing trepang, the ship Geranium, lepers, termites nests, the Luggar, Rev. and Mrs J.J. Webb, Miss Matthews, Ross Smith’s monument, Europeans at Milingimbi, children, Aboriginal humpies, basket-making, initiation rites, R.C. church at Thursday Island, baptism candidates, the parsonage at Darwin, preparing for corroborrees, body decorations for corroborree, sacred pole, spear throwing, Aboriginal camps, the Wallaby dance, 1927?
See also Photographs of Northern Territory at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 252.

919-924. Australia : The Three Sisters in Katoomba, unidentified streets and people

925-1019. India, Cocos Islands : Taj Mahal, temples and mosques in Agra, Golconda, Hindu temples, Buddhist shrines, ascetics, railway station at Secunderabad, Himalayan scenes, Cocos Islands, 1926
See also Photographs of India at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 244.

1020-1100. India : Rev. George Spooner, Dr. Adelaide Gault, Rev. & Mrs Machin, Buddhist priest, snake charmer, mission house, court house, hostels, churches, students, camels, bullocks.
Some photographs taken by Rev. T. C. Carne.
See also Photographs of India at Mitchell Library call no. MOM 245.

1101-1110. Street scene in Samoa, Fijian schoolroom and other scenes, Fijians in sailing boat with two Europeans, one holding camera

Filed mainly by negative number (annotated verso of prints).

Restricted: Written approval should be sought from Archivist, Uniting Church in Australia Assembly, 16 Masons Drive, North Parramatta, NSW 2151. Tel: 02 8838 8982

Contents list held for all photographs except nos. 725-773. Some prints listed in contents lists are missing.

Series previously titled Series 01: Photographic prints of missionaries and Indigenous people in the Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa and India, c 1885-1938 / photographed by RH Rickard and others for the Methodist Church of Australasia, Dept. of Overseas Missions.
Title amended based on information provided by Dr Christine Weir, September 2018.

Original negative number is written on reverse of prints.
Nos. 255-326. 21 prints missing: negative nos. 1,49, 51-52, 54, 57-61, 63-64, 67, 88, 90-96 missing. Negatives held for some of these (see ON 305/386-399)
Nos. 182-254. 16 prints missing: negative nos. 2-3, 6, 9-11, 13-14, 24-25, 33-37. Negatives held for some of these (see ON 305/400-410)
Nos. 1-1103 are copies of nitrate negatives since destroyed because of unstable medium.
Contents list filed with collection. (PXA 1137)
A.E. Anderson cited as photographer in Sample Catalogue of South Seas Photograph Collections (Australian National University)
See also photograph albums at Mitchell Library call nos. MOM 239-MOM 255
Some photographs published in the journal The Missionary review / Methodist Church of Australasia.
Transferred in 1991 from MOM 125, MOM 172, MOM 173, MOM 263

Most photographs in this series attributed to Rev. John Wear Burton (1875-1970) by Dr. Christine Weir, Honorary Lecturer, College of Asia & the Pacific, Australian National University, September 2018.

Rev. John Wear Burton was the General Secretary of the Australasian Methodist Missionary Society from 1925 to 1945, and as part of his duties he toured and photographed the Methodist mission stations in the South Pacific, Northern Australia, and North India.

Reference,
Library correspondence file