The papers cover John Ballard’s political research in the Pacific Islands of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Micronesia and Fiji. The majority of the collection is focused on Papua New Guinea where John Ballard was involved with the development of the political system leading up to and following independence in 1975. The papers also concern the Public Service administration courses John Ballard taught at the University of Papua New Guinea. There are a number of government related papers for the Pacific Islands.

The collection consists of research works and papers by Shineberg; files of general research material arranged by subject including Andrew Cheyne's Trading Voyages, cargo cults, decolonisation, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Kiribati/Gilbert Islands, pacific labour trade, Marquesas Islands, Micronesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga, Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides); undergraduate teaching resources and lectures; correspondence (including with Bronwen Douglas), photographs, computer disks, microfilm prints, material related to Shineberg's career, copies of archival material dating from the 18th century, card indexes and miscellaneous reprints.

Pacific and Asian History Library materials including governmental reports from Tonga, Western Samoa, Guam, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, New Zealand, East Timor and micronesia; parliamentary papers, proceedings, publications, printed material relating to Papua New Guinea.

Contains subject files and newsletters on countries kept by the Division of Pacific and Asian History: Cook Islands, Fiji, Gilbert and Ellis Island, Indonesia, Malaysia, Micronesia, New Caledonia, Papua/New Guinea, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), New Zealand, Nauru, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tahiti. Includes research papers and notes, governmental papers, publications, newspaper clippings, school readers and Cook Islands photostats.

Papers documenting Gerard Ward's research.

The collection was compiled by Charles Morris Woodford, naturalist and First Resident Commissioner of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1896 - 1915. The collection includes diaries, photographs, correspondence, sketches and research notes related to the natural history, geography and ethnography of the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Islands from 1884 - 1915, as well as family papers and documents related to the administration of Solomon Islands Protectorate. There are documents about relations between the missionaries and the traders, matters associated with labour and the alienation of land, economic activity and tourism. The collection includes Woodford's 'Journal of a voyage from Suva Fiji to the Gilbert Group' from 4 March 1884 - 22 June 1884 ; Woodford's diaries from 1886 - 1889 ; 140 photographs taken on the voyage to and residence in the Solomon Islands in 1886 ; photographs of Rennell Island and inhabitants signed by Northcote Deck c1909. Of significance are ten large photographs of various scenes of the Solomon Islands, c1901, some published in The discovery of the Solomon Islands by Alvaro de Mendana in 1568, by Lord Amherst of Hackney and Basil Thomson (1901).

ANUA 481 is a consolidated collection of all four parts of the Woodford donation:
ANUA 481/1 is a photograph album containing 140 photographs taken in from April - October 1886 ;
ANUA 481/1 - 282 are items from 'bundles 1 - 30' ;
ANUA 481/ 283 - 317 relate to the second donation (ie PMB 1381) ;
ANUA 481/318 - 322 and 324 - 327 are eight large format photographs c1884 ;
ANUA 481/323 is a presentation plaque given to Woodford in 1905 ;
ANUA 481/329 is a collection of 126 photographs [ie PMB Photo 58]

Press clippings from Hawaiian and other US press on the Pacific Islands, articles and reports. The files are arranged by the following subjects: American Samoa, American Polynesia, Anglo-American Rivalry for Pacific Islands, Arno Atoll (Marshall Islands), the Bounty and genetics, Canton Island and Enderbury Island, Caroline Island, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Easter Island, Falcon Island, Fanning Island, Fiji, French Polynesia (Tahiti, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Australs), Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Hoorn Islands, Howland Island, Hull Island, Japanese Mandate Islands, Jarvis, Howland and Baker Islands, Johnston Island, Kapingamarangi Atoll, Kingman Reef, Lord Howe Island, Mangareva, Mariannas Island, Marquesas Islands, Marshall Islands (Kwajalein Island), Michener and the Pacific, Micronesia, Midway Island, Nauru and Ocean Island, New Caledonia, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), New Zealand, Palau, Palmyra Island, Papua New Guinea, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Pitcairn Island, Ponape, Rose Island, Saipan and Tinian, Solomon Islands, Swains Island, Tonga, Torres Strait, US Trust Territory, Vostok Island, Wake Island, Washington Island, Western Samoa, World War II. Also loose press cuttings on Micronesia Independence, nuclear testing and strategic policy.

The collection was formed during 1969 and 1970 by John R Baker, Economist to the Government of Tonga and resident in the capital of Nukualofa from August 1969 to May 1970. Baker was employed by the British Ministry of Overseas Development and was seconded to the Government of Tonga as an Economist to undertake the preparation and drafting of the Tonga Development Plan 1970 - 1975, which was Tonga's second development plan. He was employed partly on the strength of his having worked in the Solomon Islands in 1964 and 1965 under the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Scheme. He was the first economist employed by the Tonga Government to work on development planning.

Research papers and essays on the Western Pacific, particularly Tonga and Fiji; correspondence, course, conference and teaching files, project and survey files, reports, Foreign Office confidential prints 1888-1890, British legislation concerning the Pacific Islands 1872-1953, archives administration files, WPHC shelf lists, inventories and calendars, publications and photographs.

Petrographic reports prepared as part of Dickinson's collaborative investigations with archaeologists working in the South Pacific.

The collection consists of disaster and research reports, disaster preparedness workshop training manuals, seminar papers, consultancy management files, newspaper clippings, small publications and ephemera, a large number of SOPAC (Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission) and United Nations reports, and documents created when Joe Barr was engaged as a consultant in relation to disaster management in the Pacific Islands. Of particular significance are the photographs and slides taken immediately following disasters in Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Cambodia, Turkey, Afghanistan, India and Indonesia.

Contains files relating to publications and films the Division of Pacific and Asian History were involved with, theses and monograph series, correspondence, bibliographies, newspaper clippings, and material relating to the film Angels of War.

Contains research papers, census and statistical reports, correspondence, published and unpublished reports relating to population studies in the Pacific Islands. Includes material on American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Pitcairn Islands, Tokelau, Palau, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Samoa.

Printed material and copies of historical publications on the South Pacific, Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Hawaii, Samoan Islands, Philippine Islands; copies of correspondence, photocopies of ship logs, maps, thesis material, administrative papers relating to the management of the Department of Pacific and South East Asian records room, and sound reel tapes of interviews relating to the Rorovana Land Crisis, Bougainville Island, 1969.

Pacific research papers on human geography including research materials on population, agriculture and natural resources in the Pacific Islands. Includes census data and government reports for Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu and Niue; newspaper articles, government and academic papers relating to Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Tuvalu, Western Samoa, Micronesia, Tonga, including topics on nuclear testing, colonialism/postcolonialism and economic development.
Also contains records documenting of aspects of Diana Howlett's education and research.

Almost half of this record group is concerned with PNG. These papers were gathered when Ward was Lecturer in History at the University of Papua New Guinea and adviser to the Land Evaluation and Demarcation Project Study (LEAD). The collection includes correspondence, notes, articles and papers, draft legislation and press cuttings.

A small portion of these papers relate to politics and land matters in Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Africa, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Banaba, French Polynesia and Guadeloupe.

The remainder of the documents are mainly concerned with New Caledonia between 1947 and 1990 and were assembled by Ward at La Trobe University, Melbourne, through the 1980s, particularly during the years of political uncertainty in the French Territory from 1984 to 1990