Corporate entry: Western Pacific Archives

Details

When the WHPC headquarters shifted to Honiara in 1953, one problem was what to do with its archives, which were in Fiji and combined the files for the Fiji Archives with those for the WPHC territories and various Pacific consular records. Some of the files were transferred immediately to Honiara, while others remained in Suva. In 1966, all Honiara-based registry files from the 1890s until 1954-six thousand in all-were shipped back to Fiji.

Once Fiji became independent in 1970, the Western Pacific Archives, despite being located in Fiji, became a department of the Solomon Islands Government jointly administered by the Deputy Governor and the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. In 1971, the Western Pacific Archives had control of the archives of British regional administration (the Western Pacific High Commission) and of local territorial administration (Resident Commissioners' and District Commissioners' Offices in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, Gilbert and Ellice Crown Colony and the New Hebrides Condominium). (PAMBU Catalogue; NS 7 Apr. 1966)

Published resources

Journals

• British Solomon Islands Protectorate (ed.), British Solomon Islands Protectorate News Sheet (NS), 1955-1975. Details