Guide to the Diaries and papers of Sir John Thurston (as filmed by the AJCP)

Series 1. Biographical papers

Notes on the life of J.B. Thurston (ms, 14pp) (File)

Book containing genealogical notes on the Thurston Family by Eliza Morton, sister of Thurston, written in 1926, with additional notes on J.B. Thurston's life by his daughter Alys Thurston. (File)

'Sir John Thurston in Fiji'. (ms, 5pp) (File)

Genealogical table showing descendants of Robert Turstain, half-brother of Rollo, 1st Duke of Normandy, compiled by Alys Thurston. (File)

Series 2. Diary of a voyage from Sydney to Mauritius, 1863

In the same volume is an account entitled 'Ramble in Rotuma'. (15pp)

Diary kept by Thurston on a voyage on the Kestrel from Sydney to Perth and Mauritius. The entries are intermittent., 3 February 1863 - 17 May 1863 (File)

Series 3. Diary of a voyage from Sydney to England, 1854 - 1855

The volume is a mixture of shipboard diary and notebook, recording conversations, historical accounts, anthropological notes and other reflections...

Diary kept by Thurston on a voyage on the Arabia from Sydney to England, via New Zealand, Cape Horn and Bahia, Brazil, 20 September 1854 - 5 March 1855 (File)

Series 4. Commonplace book, 13 March 1865 - 1 August 1865

The book contains short diaries, essays, poems and extracts from publications.

The coconut tree (File ff. 3-16)

The midnight encounter: a legend of New South Wales (poem) (File ff. 17-23)

Diffusion of animal creation (File ff. 26-29)

Notes from Rev. John Williams's narrative (File ff. 39-40)

Remarks on Polynesian pronouns etc. (File ff. 41-42)

How I spent Christmas (File ff. 48-56)

The wreck and plundering of the brig Star of Eve at the island of Rotumah, South Seas, 13 March 1865 - 18 March 1865 (File ff. 57-75)

Extract from Richard C. Trench on the language of savage tribes (File ff. 78-82)

Archbishop Richard Whateley. On the origin of civilisation (File ff. 86-118)

Diary of a passage from Rotuma to Fiji on the brig John Wesley, 14 June 1865 - 1 August 1865 (File ff. 119-[28])

Series 5. Diary of the cession of Fiji to Britain, 1874

A Letts diary (three days per page) for 1874, with detailed entries for January-April and occasional entries for April-July. The entries in the first four months record the negotiations and deliberations of Thurston and the Cakobau Government, the Fijian chiefs, and the British commissioners, Commodore J.G. Goodenough and E.L. Layard, concerning the annexation of Fiji by Britain. Cakobau made a final offer on 21 March, which the British accepted. The discussions ended in unconditional cession on 30 September 1874.

A Letts diary (three days per page), 1874 (File)

Series 6. Diary of a cruise to the Solomon Islands, 1894

The southern Solomon Islands had come under the jurisdiction of the Western Pacific High Commission in 1893 and Thurston undertook the cruise in his capacity as High Commissioner. He visited many islands including Guadalcanal, Savo Island, New Georgia, Russell Islands, Santa Cruz Islands and Tikopia. The diary, which is quite detailed, records his meetings with chiefs and other Islanders, traders and missionaries and also Cecil Wilson, the Anglican Bishop of Melanesia. Thurston wrote about conversations, such as an account of the murder of Bishop John Patteson in 1871, disputes and litigation, and his observations of villages, houses, churches, boats and crops. He also made notes on his reading, including G.L.D. de Rienzi's Oceanie (1836-37), Hernan Gallego's account of the voyage of Mendana in 1567-68, and Peter Dillon's Narrative and successful results of a voyage in the South Seas (1829)...

Diary kept by Thurston on a cruise on HMS Ringdove from Fiji to the Solomon Islands, 8 September 1894 - 8 November 1894 (File)