Kirstie Close completed her honours degree in history at La Trobe University in 2006. She went on to a Master of Arts at the University of Melbourne, which she completed by coursework and research in 2009. Kirstie is currently working on her PhD project at Deakin University, which looks at the independence of the Fijian Methodist Church. This piece was written for an undergraduate class at La Trobe and involved Kirstie’s first archival experience, at PROV. She has since gone on to study in personal as well as other public archives, mainly the Queensland State archives for her Masters thesis on a mission in Northern Queensland. Kirstie is currently also on the Committee of Management of the Professional Historians Association, and tutors in history subjects at the Australian Catholic University.