Fr Jean-Claude Colin, the founder of the Society of Mary, was strongly convinced that the Society was called “to do great things” and to work “in any corner of the world”.

When, in 1836, the Society of Mary received from the Holy See the responsibility of evangelising Oceania, Jean-Claude Colin, freshly elected Superior General, started sending missionaries. Between 1836 and 1849, 15 groups left France to go to the missions in Oceania: New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinee, Fiji islands, Wallis et Futuna, Tonga, Vanuatu, Samoa and New Zealand.

The story of the Marist work in each of these areas is a complicated and long one, but by the start of the 20th century, Marists in Oceania were mainly working in the following eight areas (Vicariates) of Oceania: Bougainville (PNG), Solomons Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. The Marists working in these areas were formally constituted into the Province of Oceania in 1898. The provincial administration was established in Sydney and remained there till 1971 when it was transferred to Suva where it remains up to this day.