2025 is an important year for the Pacific region, as it marks the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea as an independent nation. Australia’s relations with its Pacific nations have a long history – of trade, plantations, administration, missionary activity, anthropological and linguistic research, and scientific exploration. The documentary heritage of Australia’s relations with its Pacific neighbours is an important component of the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register, and is represented on the Memory of the World Asia-Pacific (MOWCAP) Register.

The UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register, and the MOWCAP Register, hold inscriptions of five collections relating to Australia and its Pacific neighbours, including some joint inscriptions. They are:

F. E. Willliams Collection of Photographs of Papua, 1922-1943 (Australia and Papua New Guinea)

Queensland South Sea Islander Indentured Labour Records 1863-1908

Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC)

Funafuti: The Edgeworth David 1897 Expedition Documents (Australia and Tuvalu)

Pacific Manuscripts Bureau

Items relating to these inscriptions, including photographs, publications and objects collected from Pacific nations such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Tuvalu from the late 1960s onwards, are on display at the ACT Heritage Library from 6 February to 11 May 2025.

pasifika-act_library_port_no_bleeds_no_crops_fa_1.pdf