Papers of Henry Evans and Honor Courtney Maude
B. The Holland Papers
Papers of F.G.L. Holland, principally re the war-time occupation of Tarawa and post-war administration of Rabi. 1931-49. 8cm.
Captain (later Major) F.G.L. Holland, O.B.E., G.M., was Head Master, Government Education Scheme, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, from 13 May 1920, and Director of Education from 25 October 1938. The series was handed to me for preservation by Holland prior to his death in Sydney c.1951 and contains valuable material on the escape of the Europeans from Tarawa in February 1942 and his return with the American attacking force in 1943, on the Battle of Tarawa, his subsequent work in charge of the British civil administration on Abemama in 1943, and as Banaban Adviser on Rabi from 1946 to 1949.
1. Correspondence from Grimble and Kennedy on anthropological research, 1931-1932. Principally the correspondence of Donald C. Kennedy, Education Department, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, and Arthur Grimble, Resident Commissioner, Ocean Island, 8 May 1931 - 14 April 1932. Matters discussed include astronomy, fish, migration myths. Correspondents include E.H. Bryan (Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Hawaii), Ian Hogbin, Gordon Macgregor and Johannes Andersen.
2. War service at Pearl Harbour, Vaitupu and Abemama, 1942-1944. File includes copy of Holland's curriculum vitae (updated to 1949) and his warrant of appointment to the Order of the British Empire; his notes on the history of Tarawa as a British colony and under Japanese occupation; copies of telegrams sent from Tarawa re its evacuation January – February 1942; Holland's War Diary August - November 1943; and correspondence 1947 with Department of Veteran's Affairs, Vancouver re Anton Pettersen, one of eight survivors of the S.S. "Donerail", sunk December 1941 by a Japanese submarine.
3. Battle of Tarawa: accounts and pictures. Comprising copies of articles, newspaper cuttings and typescript notes on American headquarters buildings.
4. Correspondence and papers on Banaban affairs, 1931-1949. Includes newspaper cuttings, articles, an unpublished paper by Holland on The Indigenous People of Ocean Island (1949), notes on various meetings with the Banabans re compensation payment for land acquired and leased to the British Phosphate Commissioners (January 1931, 20 February 1942); a long memorandum by Maude on the Future of the Banaban Community on Rabi Island, July 1947, and Holland's Handing over Statement on Rabi Island and statement of accounts, January 1949.
5. Banaban financial matters, 1937-1949. Comprising correspondence and statements by Holland and his predecessors. Includes detailed statement re 1913 agreement with the Banabans by J.C. Barley, 17 December 1937; and notes by Holland 11 March 1948 on the forthcoming control of Banaban affairs by the Fiji Government. Holland's letters refer to the Banaban Island Council's claim for independence in the light of the Tonga precedent, and their challenge to the right of the Fiji Government to appoint the Banaban Advisor.
6. Correspondence and papers on Rabi affairs, 1946-1951. File includes copy of Sir Albert Ellis' address on Phosphates given at the Auckland Rotary Club June 1942; record of agreement reached with the Banaban landowners by the British Phosphate Commission August 1947; and letters between Ellis and Holland October 1948 - May 1951 re Rabi and especially the erection of the Stone of Remembrance at Rabi in 1950.
7. Correspondence and papers on the orthography of Gilbertese, Tuvaluan and Tongan. Comprising notes and reports by Holland and related correspondence and copies of letters, January – September 1934, May 1938 - July 1943. Also ms notebook on language structure, dated December 1931 [received in 1997]
Further papers re the Banaban community are held in Series F, Papers of the Banaban Action v. The Crown.
See also correspondence with Holland in Series J files.
