Administrative Office, New Britain New Ireland Mission, Kokopo, 2012. Built after volcanic eruption in Rabaul. Photo courtesy of Barry Oliver. New Britain New Ireland Mission, South Pacific Division BARRY OLIVER Barry Oliver, Ph.D., retired in 2015 as president of the South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists, Sydney, Australia. An Australian by birth Oliver has served the Church as a pastor, evangelist, college teacher, and administrator. In retirement, he is a conjoint associate professor at Avondale College of Higher Education. He has authored over 106 significant publications and 192 magazine articles. He is married to Julie with three adult sons and three grandchildren. The New Britain New Ireland Mission (NBNI) is the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) administrative entity for a large part of the New Guinea Islands region in Papua New Guinea located in the South West Pacific Ocean.1 The territory of New Britain New Ireland Mission is East New Britain, West New Britain, and New Ireland Provinces of Papua New Guinea.2 It is a part of and responsible to the Papua New Guinea Union Lae, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The Papua New Guinea Union Mission comprises the Seventh-day Adventist Church entities in the country of Papua New Guinea. There are nine local missions and one local conference in the union. They are the Central Papuan Conference, the Bougainville Mission, the New Britain New Ireland Mission, the Northern and Milne Bay Mission, Morobe Mission, Madang Manus Mission, Sepik Mission, Eastern Highlands Simbu Mission, Western Highlands Mission, and South West Papuan Mission. The administrative office of NBNI is located at Butuwin Street, Kokopo 613, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The postal address is P.O. Box 205, Kokopo 613, Papua New Guinea. The postal address of the regional sub-office at Kavieng in the New Ireland Province is P.O. Box 41, Kavieng 631, NIP, Papua New Guinea.3 The postal address of the regional sub-office in Kimbe in the West New Britain Province is P.O Box 41 Kimbe 6, WNBP, Papua New Guinea. The mission operates under General Conference and South Pacific Division (SPD) operating policies. Those policies state that the officers of NBNI are elected by the Papua New Guinea Union Mission.4 “The mission president elected by the union is a member of the union committee and is the union representative in the conduct of the work in the mission. The president shall, with the local mission committee, supervise and carry forward the work in the local mission.”5 Mission associate officers and departmental personnel are elected at a duly called session of the mission where representatives from all churches in the mission are present.6 In 2018, the NBNI had 109 organized churches and 184 companies. Church membership at the end of 2018 was 14,119. The mission had ninety-nine active employees. Its tithe receipts for 2016 totaled US$1,343,400. Its tithe and offerings per capita were US$ 117.93.7 The Institutions of the New Britain New Ireland Mission As of 2018, the NBNI supported twenty-two primary schools and one secondary school in the territory of the mission. The total number of students in the primary schools at the last report was 2,201. There were 125 teaching staff in the schools.8 The mission also supported for medical clinics. The schools were:9 Boliu Primary School, located at Boliu on the island of Mussau, New Ireland Province, had an enrollment of twenty- three with a teaching staff of ten. Ediwa Community School, located at Ediwa, Mussau, had an enrollment of eighty-nine with a teaching staff of six. Ganai Community School, located at Ganae on the Gazelle Peninsula, East New Britain, had an enrollment of 118 with a teaching staff of seven. Harrison Primary School, located at Kimbe, West New Britain, had an enrollment of 286 with a teaching staff of ten. Isu Primary School, formerly Silovuti School (name was changed in 1982),10 is located at Isu in the Kombe District of West New Britain. The school had an enrollment of ninety-six with a teaching staff of six in 2018. Kambubu Adventist Secondary School, located at Kokopo on the east coast of the Gazelle Peninsula of East New Britain, had an enrollment 534 and a teaching staff of eighteen in January 2020.11 Kavieng Primary School, located at Kavieng at the northern end of the island of New Ireland, had an enrollment of 251 with a teaching staff of ten. Kivia Primary School, located at Vitu Island, West New Britain, had an enrollment of 111 with a teaching staff of six. Konkavul Primary School, located on the island of New Hanover, had an enrolment of eighty-three with a teaching staff of four. Kumbuba Community School, located at Vitu Islsnd, West New Britain, had an enrollment of forty-two with a teaching staff of two. Loaua Community School, located at Loaua on the island of Mussau, the school had an enrollment of eighty-four with a teaching staff of four. Lomana Community School, located at Lomakunauru on the island of Mussau, had an enrollment of thrity-two with a teaching staff of two. Lovarang Community School, located at Lovarang on the island of Mussau, had an enrollment of thirty-eight with a teaching staff of four. Magean Primary School, located at Magean on the island of Mussau, had an enrolment of thirty-four with a teaching staff of one. Napapar Primary School, located at Napapar on the Gazelle Peninsula of East New Britain, had an enrollment of 167 with a teaching staff of nine. Nighilani Primary School, located at Nighilani on the island of Bali, West New Britain, the school had an enrollment of 138 with a teaching staff of nine. Palakau Community School, located at Palkau on the island of Mussau, the school had an enrollment of fifty-five with a teaching staff of two. Rali Primary School, located at Pomio, East New Britain, had an enrollment of twenty-six with a teaching staff of two. Rongoe Primary School, located on the island of Emirau, had an enrolment of 119 with a teaching staff of eight. Rugen Harbour Primary School, located at Put Put on the East coast of the Gazelle Peninsula of east New Britain, had an enrolment of 128 with a teaching staff of eight. Saio Community School, located at Mussau, had an enrollment of nineteen with a teaching staff of three. Sonoma Primary School, located at Sonoma Adventist College on the Gazelle Peninsula of east New Britain, had an enrollment of 239 with a teaching staff of ten. Ulu Primary School, located at Bialla, West New Britain, had an enrollment of twenty-three with a teaching staff of two. Aidposts and Clinics: Bereme Aidpost. P.O. Box 413; Kimbe 621; Papua New Guinea. Hoiya Health Centre. C/o P.O. Box 205; Kokopo 613; Papua New Guinea. Mu Aidpost. C/o P.O. Box 205; Kokopo 613; Papua New Guinea. Nighilani Aidpost. P.O. Box 413; Kimbe 621; Papua New Guinea. Arrival and Early History of the Adventist Church in East New Britain At 1:00 p.m. on June 4, 1929, the mission vessel Melanesia arrived in Simpson Harbor, Rabaul with the first group of Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to visit New Britain with the intention of establishing a mission. Francis and Eva Allum had visited Rabaul in 1906 when they were on their way to China. Allum, reflecting on his visit, later wrote, “We reached New Britain. It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen...I wonder who will be called to this place to tell this people the truths of the third angel's message.”12 A. G. Stewart, who was aboard the Melanesia in 1929 wrote: Our ship's company comprised our veteran pioneer missionary, Captain G. F. Jones, who has again been duly appointed by the Australasian Union Conference to pioneer the work in this part of our already widely spread island mission field ; Pastor G. Peacock, the superintendent of the Solomon Islands Mission; Brother H. E. Barham, the ship's engineer; Sister Barham; Oti and Salau, two Solomon Island teachers recently appointed to assist Pastor Jones; Rangoso and his brother Jimuru, our Solomon Island translators; the boat's crew of nine boys ; and the writer, making a complement of eighteen souls.13 The next day Jones, Peacock, and Stewart met with the government administrator to obtain the necessary approval to begin work. They commenced searching for a suitable site on which to locate a mission station. For some days they searched extensively within a twenty-mile radius of Rabaul until in Stewart’s words, “we were providentially led to what we believe to be the best location in the Territory as a place for the headquarters of our mission for the whole of the Territory.”14 They were offered a site at the eastern end of the island of Matupit. Stewart continued, “here we were offered a fine house large enough for two families, in a good state of repair, with good outhouses, on a block of ground comprising nearly an acre, freehold property with no encumbrance.”15 G. F. Jones was the first superintendent of the church in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea with headquarters at Matupit. He was joined by July 1929 by Oti Maekera and Robert Salau, teachers from the Solomon Islands.16 Mrs. Jones joined them on July 11. The Matupit Church was formally organized. The first Adventist congregation in the Territory of New Guinea was organized at Matupit in 1933. In 1937 property at Put Put southeast of Rabaul was purchased.