A necklace made of long curved bone sitting on a white surface

Fiji

Fiji comprises over 800 islands and the official language is English, though most speak Bauan or Hindustani. Find out more about Fiji through our collections, videos, blogs, and a Fijian language activity book.

Fijian language activity book

Early childhood, Primary

Celebrate the Fijian language by learning Fijian words, numbers, and phrases through simple activities that kids love – word searches, colouring pages, and stories.

Activity book

A ceramic pot with four looping handles and four containers

Browse the collections from Fiji

From Saqa Niwai (water containers) to masi (tapa cloths), people and language, to places and islands, photos of Fiji from Glenn Jowitt, Leslie Adkin, and the Burton Brothers, and much more.

Patterned tapa cloth with a lot of geometrical patterns on it

View the masi (tapa cloth) from Fiji in our collections

Fijian masi (tapa) has customarily been used for ceremonial occasions such as weddings or the conferring of a chiefly title. Explore tapa and tapa related objects from Fiji.

Whale tooth tales: The Fijian tabua

Originally taken from the lower jaw of sperm whales found stranded on beaches, which were relatively rare, the tabua have a high spiritual value, and are considered tabua to be kavakaturanga (chiefly items) and iYau (treasures).

A 20 cent coin held close to the camera with someone behind it

Watch: A Whale Tooth Tale - Tales from Te Papa

In Fiji, the tooth of a whale is shown on the 20c coin. Find out why in this Tales of Te Papa episode.

A breastplate made of bone and pearl hung on rope on a black background

Plates of pearl

Pearl-shell breastplates, called civa in Fijian, were worn as ornaments by chiefs in Fiji and many other Pacific regions. They were highly valued and often used in ceremonies. More elaborate styles of civa evolved in the early 1800s with the increasing availability of metal tools and whale teeth.

A brown and white patterned masi or tapa cloth

Watch: Robin White – The making of ‘That Vase’

In 2019, Dame Robin White invited a small team from Te Papa to visit her on location in Lautoka Fiji as she completed That Vase, a masi (Fijian tapa) made with her collaborator Tamari Cabeikanacea.

A bright pink fern frond with a green leafy background

Ferning in Fiji

Curator Botany Leon Perrie talks about some of his fern finds in Fiji, while taking part in a Conservation International-funded, international expedition.

Drua - double hulled voyaging canoe of Fiji

Drua are Fijian canoes. Large and fast, some drua could reach speeds of up to fifteen knots in a good wind. They were among the most finely crafted vessels in Fiji, identical in design to the Sāmoan ‘alia and the Tongan kalia.

A woman combing her afro hair with a long-toothed comb

All power to the fro!

The Fijian Museum records how in the 1800s, Fijians would marvel at one’s buiniga (afro) and the further away from your head one’s hair was, the more impressive their hairstyle. How did they create and keep these buiniga hairdos intact?

A wooden club with a round ball at the end with a pointed end

Star Wars and the Fiji connection: redux

Did you know the Star Wars franchise Tusken Raider gaderffii, or gaffi sticks have a connection to the warriors of 19th century Fiji?

A black and white photo showing the colonists and Indigenous people of Fiji

Burton Brothers in the Pacific

Browse Alfred Burton’s photographs taken on a four-week cruise in the Pacific, including Fiji. They are characteristic of nineteenth-century travel photographs, recording images of colonial industry, officialdom, distinctive foliage, and local people.

A photo of a taxidermied bird on a white surface with museum tags attached to it

Long-legged warbler – Fiji's secretive and elusive bird

The long-legged warbler (Trichocichla rufa) was described in 1890 based on three specimens collected on Viti Levu, Fiji’s main island, and are now ranked as Endangered. The first nest, which contained two eggs and produced two chicks, was discovered in 2009.

A bundle of brown fibre tied with string made from that fibre

Magimagi (coconut fibre)

Magimagi is braided from long coconut husks, preferably those of the elongated niumagimagi coconut, and has a spiritual and cultural significance as well as practical use.