This translation of portions of A Melanesian English Prayer Book is used on Aoba or Ambae Island (also called variously Oba, Omba, or Leper's Island) in the Diocese of Vanuatu. On this island of fewer than 10,000 people there are three or four linguistic groups of which one, West Ambae, is represented by this text. Anglican liturgical translations for use on Aoba began in 1876; to date they have included prayer books, scripture, hymns, a devotional guide for the Mothers Union, and reading primers. David Griffiths, in his Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, lists three of these prayer books, but not the one presented here. He calls the island and its language 'Omba', and the dialect Waluringi, which may or may not be the same as is used in this text.

Like all pre-1980 liturgies used in Vanuatu, this text includes intercessions for both Queen Elizabeth II and the President of France. Before this date, Vanuatu was known was the New Hebrides and was governed jointly as an Anglo-French condominium.

This book was printed locally in Port Vila probably around 1970; there was at least one later printing in 1973 done by the Melanesian Mission Press in the Solomon Is.

This island is reputed to be the inspiration for Bali Ha'i in James Mitchener's South Pacific.