The
New Hebrides Project
Conceived by the late William Stober, the original idea for this
project was to launch an appeal for reminiscences about life in the former
condominium of the New Hebrides. It was intended that the project would place
emphasis on the system of rural administration operated by the British and
French District Agents on behalf of the joint Anglo-French administration,
usually known as the Condominium Government. In 1991, Will Stober
approached Keith Woodward OBE and sought his help and support in getting what was then
known as the District Agent Project, off the ground. Subsequently more
than 350 appeal letters were sent, inviting contributions in writing or tape
recording from persons who had lived in the New Hebrides under the Condominium
regime. Eventual contributors, more than fifty in total, included not only
British and French expatriate Condominium staff (including former Resident
Commissioners and District Agents) but also Australian, New Zealand and ni-Vanuatu condominium civil servants, among whom are one former President of
the Republic and a former Prime Minister.
The resulting collection of personal contributions provides a
valuable historic record of day to day life in the New Hebrides prior to
independence in 1980. The record was safeguarded for posterity in 1996
when the Rhodes House Library in the University of Oxford, which specialises in
Commonwealth and Naval studies, agreed to provide a permanent home for all of
the contributions received. More recently, the University of the South
Pacific, expressed an interest in examining the collection and this has been
followed by confirmation from the Research School of Pacific Studies that the
University has now published the collection of Condominium reminiscences, in
2002, under the title of Tufala Gavmen.
Keith Woodward has received a limited number of copies of ‘Tufala Gavman’ for
sale to members at the discounted price of £20, plus £5 for postage (UK or
overseas surface mail) and packing.
Orders should be sent direct to Keith at Taradale, 17 Van Diemen’s Lane,
Lansdown, Bath BA1 5TW. Payment should be by cheque, payable to K. Woodward,
sent with the order.
A full acknowledgement of the
contributions made by the many supporters of this project over the years
is given in the detailed project introductory
statement attached, but attention is here drawn to the work done
by the following members without which the Condominium project would not have
been possible (shown L to R) :
[The British Friends of Vanuatu has been authorised by the
University of the South Pacific to include extracts from the new book on this
website, to give a better understanding of the content and to promote interest
in both the subject and in the book itself.
To view samples of contributions to the new publication, click
below
John S Champion CMG OBE
British Resident Commissioner 1975-78
Jean-Jacques Robert French Resident
Commissioner
Andrew Stuart CMG CPM British
Resident Commissioner 1978-80
